Prescription Heroin Best To Treat Addiction?

Study Backs Heroin to Treat Addiction

A recent study appearing in the latest issue of the New England Journal of Medicine recommends prescription heroin over the currently used methadone as the best treatment for heroin addiction. The study confirms what Swiss and Dutch doctors have practiced for years despite the lingering controversy in the efficacy and legality of the treatments.

Simply put, “heroin works better than methadone in this population of users, and patients will be more willing to take it,” according to psychiatrist, Dr. Joshua Boverman, who practices at the Oregon Health and Science University. Boverman also feels that the patient base doesn’t like methadone which ultimately hampers their treatment.

The Canadian study involved the enrollment of 226 longtime heroin addicts that proved impervious to other treatment methods, including methadone-based therapy. Doctors have long considered methadone to be the best treatment for opiate-based addictions since it prevents withdrawal without inducing the psychoactive “high” typical of narcotics.

Half of the study participants were given methadone, while the other half were given injections of diacetylmorphine which is the active ingredient in heroin. After one-study-year, 88 percent of the patients given the heroin-based compound still remained in the study, with two-thirds of them having cutback on illegal street drug usage.

The methadone-based control group fared worse, with only 54 percent remaining in the study and 48 percent curtailing their illegal drug use. Study author, Dr. Martin T. Schechter, a professor at the University of British Columbia, said the study’s main finding was that, “both methadone and prescription heroin can provide real benefits” to an addict group generally written off by treatment professionals.