Heroin-Assisted Treatment

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Page last updated June 9, 2020 by Doug McVay, Editor/Senior Policy Analyst.

31. Drug Treatment and Crime Reduction

"With respect to the group of those treated uninterruptedly during four years, a strong decrease in the incidence and prevalence rates of overall criminal implication for both intense and moderate offenders was found. As to the type of offense, similar diminutions were observed for all types of offenses related to the use or acquisition of drugs. Not surprisingly, the most pronounced drop was found for use/possession of heroin. In accordance with self-reported and clinical data (Blaettler, Dobler-Mikola, Steffen, & Uchtenhagen, 2002; Uchtenhagen et al., 1999), the analysis of police records suggests that program participants also tend strongly to reduce cocaine and cannabis use probably because program participants dramatically reduced their contacts with the drug scene when entering the program (Uchtenhagen et al., 1999) and were thus less exposed to opportunities to buy drugs. Consequently, their need for money is not only reduced with regard to heroin but also to other substances. Accordingly, the drop in acquisitive crime, such as drug selling or property crime, is also remarkable and related to all kinds of thefts like shoplifting, vehicle theft, burglary, etc. Detailed analyses indicated that the drop found is related to a true diminution in criminal activity rather than a more lenient recording practice of police officers towards program participants.
"On average, males had higher overall rates than females in the pretreatment period. However, no marked gender differences were found with regard to in-treatment rates. Taken as a whole, this suggests that the treatment had a somewhat more beneficial effect on men than women. This result is corroborated by self-report data (Killias et al., 2002). With respect to age and cocaine use, no relevant in-treatment differences were observed. As to program dropout, after one year, about a quarter of the patients had left the program, and after four years, about 50% had left. Considering the high-risk profile of the treated addicts, this retention rate is, at least, promising."

Ribeaud, Denis, "Long-term Impacts of the Swiss Heroin Prescription Trials on Crime of Treated Heroin Users," Journal of Drug Issues (Talahassee, FL: University of Florida, Winter 2004), p. 187.
http://jod.sagepub.com/content...
32. Reasons for Discontinuing Treatment

"Finally, the analysis of the reasons for interrupting treatment revealed that, even in the group of those treated for less than one year, the majority did not actually drop out of the program but rather changed the type of treatment, mostly either methadone maintenance or abstinence treatment. Knowing that methadone maintenance treatment – and a fortiori abstinence treatment – is able to substantially reduce acquisitive crime, the redirection of heroin maintenance patients toward alternative treatments is probably the main cause for the ongoing reduction or at least stabilization of criminal involvement of most patients after treatment interruption. Thus the principal post-treatment benefit of heroin maintenance seems to be its ability to redirect even briefly treated high-risk patients towards alternative treatments rather than back 'on the street'."

Ribeaud, Denis, "Long-term Impacts of the Swiss Heroin Prescription Trials on Crime of Treated Heroin Users," Journal of Drug Issues (Talahassee, FL: University of Florida, Winter 2004), p. 188.
http://jod.sagepub.com/content...
33. Target Population

"As one of the responses to dramatically increasing drug scenes, heroin maintenance trials were implemented in Switzerland from 1994 onwards. The target population for this new treatment consists of heroin users who did not comply with other forms of treatment and who presented serious health and/or social problems."

Ribeaud, Denis, "Long-term Impacts of the Swiss Heroin Prescription Trials on Crime of Treated Heroin Users," Journal of Drug Issues (Talahassee, FL: University of Florida, Winter 2004), pp. 186-187.
http://jod.sagepub.com/content...
34. North American Opiate Medication Initiative (NAOMI)

"The North American Opiate Medication Initiative (NAOMI) is a carefully controlled (clinical trial) that will test whether medically prescribed heroin can successfully attract and retain street-heroin users who have not benefited from previous repeated attempts at methadone maintenance and abstinence programs.
"The NAOMI study will enroll 470 participants at three sites in Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto. The Toronto and Montreal sites are expected to begin recruitment this spring.
"Each site will enroll about 157 participants. About half of these volunteers will be assigned to receive pharmaceutical-grade heroin (the experimental group) and half will receive methadone (the control group). The prescribed heroin will be self-administered under careful medical supervision within a specially designed clinic. Those in the heroin group will be treated for 12 months then transitioned, over three months, into either methadone-maintenance therapy or another treatment program. The researchers expect a 6-9 month recruitment period, so that the total time to complete the study will be 21 to 24 months."

Health Canada News Release, "North America's First Clinical Trial Of Prescribed Heroin Begins Today," (Vancouver: February. 9, 2005).
http://dev.cihr.ca/e/26516.html
35. Heroin Maintenance - Research - North American Opioid Medication Initiative

18. What was NAOMI?
"NAOMI was North America’s first-ever clinical trial of prescribed heroin that took place from 2005 to 2008.
"It was led by researchers from PHC and UBC, and tested whether medically prescribed heroin (diacetylmorphine) was more effective than methadone therapy for individuals with chronic heroin addiction who were not benefiting from other conventional treatments.
"19. Who participated in the NAOMI study?
"NAOMI enrolled 251 chronic, heroin dependent participants (192 in Vancouver and 59 in Montreal)."

"24. What did NAOMI find?
"The NAOMI Trial results, published in the prestigious medical publication the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that participants treated with diacetylmorphine reported improved physical and mental health, were 62 per cent more likely to remain in addiction treatment and 40 per cent less likely to take illegal drugs and commit crimes to support their habit than were those treated with methadone.
"After a year, 88 per cent of those treated with diacetylmorphine remained in treatment, compared with 54 per cent in the methadone group.
"Data from NAOMI and other long-term studies with medically prescribed heroin show that many of the patients of these studies also transition from injection to oral treatments, detox programs and abstinence."

"25. What happened to the NAOMI participants after they completed the study?
"Doctors were unable to secure approval from the federal government to give patients diacetylmorphine.
"All participants who received injection medication were encouraged to switch to methadone.
"Providence agreed to provide interim funding for the continued operations of a methadone program at the clinic site. SALOME was designed to continue the work of NAOMI."

"SALOME Clinical Trial Questions and Answers," Providence Healthcare, Vancouver, British Columbia, last accessed March 3, 2017.
http://www.providencehealthcar...

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