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You have found 50 entries after clicking the GO button or a search link in a hot topic. Starting with the most recently added or updated entries, the list shows in orange the type of entry, year the original document was published (or if one of our own documents, the year last updated), and the type of file you will download when you click on the title. In blue is the document’s title followed by a brief description.

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STUDY 2010 HTM file
Using enhanced and integrated services to improve response to standard methadone treatment: changing the clinical infrastructure of treatment networks

Heroin addicts in Baltimore who still used drugs heavily despite being on methadone were sent to a special clinic for intensified care reinforced by sanctions and incentives and eventual discharge if still they failed to comply. Tough love perhaps, but does it really make sense to intensify compliance requirements on patients already not complying?

REVIEW 2010 HTM file
A review of opioid dependence treatment: pharmacological and psychosocial interventions to treat opioid addiction

This wide-ranging review uniquely draws together findings from authoritative reviews of rigorous research conducted for the Cochrane collaboration and later studies concerned with the pharmacological and psychosocial treatment of dependence on opiate-type drugs like heroin, concluding that retention is the common key to success.

REVIEW 2011 HTM file
Psychosocial combined with agonist maintenance treatments versus agonist maintenance treatments alone for treatment of opioid dependence

Update of Cochrane review of rigorous studies surprisingly finds that adding psychosocial therapy to opiate substitute prescribing makes no difference to retention or substance use – a testament to the power of the routine treatment and a blow (but not a fatal one) to hopes that extra therapy would aid recovery and treatment exit.

STUDY 2010 HTM file
Is heroin-assisted treatment effective for patients with no previous maintenance treatment? Results from a German randomised controlled trial

Uniquely among modern heroin prescribing trials, the trial in Germany was not confined to heroin-addicted patients who had done poorly on methadone, offering the opportunity to assess whether heroin should be reserved for these patients. The conclusion was that other patients too benefit more from injectable heroin than oral methadone.

STUDY 2011 HTM file
How does cognitive behaviour therapy work with opioid-dependent clients? Results of the UKCBTMM study

Compromised by an inability to interest enough patients, the only randomised UK trial of cognitive-behavioural therapy for methadone patients was unable to be definitive but did find some signs of benefit and that the therapy had pulled some of the intended psychological levers.

STUDY 2010 HTM file
Long-term outcomes of aftercare participation following various forms of drug abuse treatment in Scotland

On several measures, the few drug dependent patients who accessed aftercare after treatment in Scotland in the early 2000s did better than the majority who chose to or were left to fend on their own – but could this be attributed to the aftercare, or would they have done well anyway?

STUDY 2011 HTM file
A good quality of life under the influence of methadone: a qualitative study among opiate-dependent individuals

Opiate dependent methadone patients in Belgium give their own accounts of what for them constitutes a good quality of life. Generally they want what other people want: a meaningful, independent life and supportive relationships. Methadone creates the preconditions for such a life at the same time as it limits its achievement.

DOCUMENT 2010 HTM file
The Patel report: Reducing drug-related crime and rehabilitating offenders

Investigation and recommendations from an expert group on drug treatment and interventions for people in prison in England calls for a clear focus on recovery and for the commissioning and coordination measures needed to improve outcomes without extra resources.

REVIEW 2009 HTM file
Efficacy of opiate maintenance therapy and adjunctive interventions for opioid dependence with comorbid cocaine use disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis of controlled clinical trials

About a third of Britain's heroin dependent patients also have problems with crack cocaine. Can opiate substitute prescribing help with both problems, and which special anti-cocaine therapies are worth adding on? This review trawled the international research for the answers.

STUDY 2005 PDF file 166Kb
Continuity vital after prison treatment

Though the original treatments were diametrically opposed, two long-term follow-up studies have confirmed that post-release continuity is vital to sustain the benefits of treatment in prison.


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