(no subject)
No problem getting injectable heroin for study for no therapeutic purpose, but we still have to go on bended knee and jump through hoops to get marijuana for study for actual diseases.
Study says heroin may be safer, more effective treatment for addiction than methadone.
The New York Times (8/20, A19, Carey) reports that, according to a study published Aug. 20 in the New England Journal of Medicine, "the safest and most effective treatment for hard-core heroin addicts who fail to control their habit using methadone or other treatments may be their drug of choice, in prescription form." For the study, researchers from the University of British Columbia "enrolled 226 addicts with longstanding habits who had failed to improve using other methods, including methadone maintenance therapy." Next, the team "randomly assigned about half of the addicts to receive methadone and the other half to receive daily injections of diacetylmorphine, the active ingredient in heroin."
Bloomberg News (8/20, Lopatto) reports that "in a follow-up analysis" one year later, the investigators found that nearly "90 percent of the addicts who were assigned to the heroin group remained in treatment," whereas only "54 percent in the methadone group" did. Moreover, "the heroin-treated addicts' spending on illicit drugs dropped to $320 a month, compared with $400 in the methadone group, from the $1,200 a month they spent on drugs before treatment." Bloomberg News points out that approximately "15 to 25 percent of opioid addicts don't have a good response to methadone, the most common treatment for heroin addiction, according to background information in the paper," and that "European studies have suggested that prescribing pharmaceutical heroin may help those patients most resistant to treatment." The Los Angeles Times (8/19, Kaplan) Booster Shots blog and the Wall Street Journal (8/20, Tomsho, subscription required) also covered the story.
Study says heroin may be safer, more effective treatment for addiction than methadone.
The New York Times (8/20, A19, Carey) reports that, according to a study published Aug. 20 in the New England Journal of Medicine, "the safest and most effective treatment for hard-core heroin addicts who fail to control their habit using methadone or other treatments may be their drug of choice, in prescription form." For the study, researchers from the University of British Columbia "enrolled 226 addicts with longstanding habits who had failed to improve using other methods, including methadone maintenance therapy." Next, the team "randomly assigned about half of the addicts to receive methadone and the other half to receive daily injections of diacetylmorphine, the active ingredient in heroin."
Bloomberg News (8/20, Lopatto) reports that "in a follow-up analysis" one year later, the investigators found that nearly "90 percent of the addicts who were assigned to the heroin group remained in treatment," whereas only "54 percent in the methadone group" did. Moreover, "the heroin-treated addicts' spending on illicit drugs dropped to $320 a month, compared with $400 in the methadone group, from the $1,200 a month they spent on drugs before treatment." Bloomberg News points out that approximately "15 to 25 percent of opioid addicts don't have a good response to methadone, the most common treatment for heroin addiction, according to background information in the paper," and that "European studies have suggested that prescribing pharmaceutical heroin may help those patients most resistant to treatment." The Los Angeles Times (8/19, Kaplan) Booster Shots blog and the Wall Street Journal (8/20, Tomsho, subscription required) also covered the story.