[Possibilities and limits of drug substitution treatment in ambulatory practice]

The controversial discussion about the use of methadone in the treatment of drug addicts has occupied specialists in West Germany for decades. Owing to the political pressure to find a solution to the drug problem, methadone has been an established place in the classical drug treatment system for a long time. Therefore, there has been a supplement (in 1991) to the guidelines of the N.U.B. that under special conditions, it is now possible, for a physician working in a practice or outpatient clinic to use methadone substitution as a routine procedure. The psychosocial care of the patient ist also very important in addition to the purely medical provision of a substitute drug which blocks the heroin hunger and helps prevent criminal activity. The profound dependence of a drug addict is not created primarily by the consumption of addictive substances but must be seen as the result of a severely disturbed personality development and treated accordingly. The individual context of the particular drug scene, scene behavior and jargon should also be taken into account. It is not sufficient to explain addiction and dependence by means of chemical formula or physiological processes. Thus, a substitution treatment always includes two crucial aspects: the soothing and protecting aspect of the medicine administered and the conflict and insight orientated aspect of the therapeutic commitment. The physician, the clinic employees and the social worker should be comprehensively and thoroughly qualified in order to deal with the equally wide-ranging demands of substitutions therapy.