[The Methadone Maintenance Program for intravenous heroin addicts. What information do primary care physicians have?]

To find the profile of the heroin addict included in the Methadone Maintenance Programme (MMP) and the standard of information which primary care doctors have about these patients.

A descriptive crossover study.

All the drug addicts included in the MMP, located at the Drug Dependency Care Centre (DDCC) of the Segovia Red Cross (53 patients) and their respective local doctors (22 doctors).

Reviewing medical records in the DDCC archives and a closed questionnaire submitted to the local doctors.

The patients included in the MMP were, on average: male, aged 28,4 ( +/- 5,4 years), single, urban dwellers, unemployed, polydependent, with average time taking heroin 8.4 years ( +/- 4,5) and with family history of drug-taking in 47,1% of cases. The reason for demanding the MMP was legal problems in 41.5% of cases. 9.4% were referred to the DDCC by health clinics. 15,7% of local doctors referred their drug addicts to the DDCC. 89,5% of local doctors never received medical information from the DDCC.

Legal problems were more important motives than health for requesting inclusion in the MMP. The poor coordination between primary care and the DDCC is notorious, which suggests we should try to establish greater collaboration between the two areas to tackle this problem.