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[Irish Medical Times] Prescribing heroin reduces abuse of the drug. (08 Jul 2011)

External website: http://www.imt.ie/clinical/2011/07/prescribing-her...

Heroin, alone or combined with methadone, should be used in long-term treatment of refractory opioid users, a Cochrane review suggests.

The review included eight studies of over 2,000 patients, with most comparing supervised injected heroin plus flexible doses of methadone, to methadone only. The heroin users in the programmes attended a clinic to inject prescribed heroin two-to-three times a day.

Heroin was found to help patients remain in treatment and to reduce the use of illicit drugs. It was also linked with a small protective effect on mortality, but a greater risk of adverse events.....

 

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