Treatment failures? Scope of the treatment system for long‐term heroin addicts

In a study of 50 long‐term heroin addicts in Hamburg with an average usage period of 17.4 years, it was found that heroin usage patterns differed in the course of addiction. It appeared that two‐thirds of the sample had had longer periods of uncontrolled heroin use that were interrupted by phases of abstinence or by phases of controlled use. Almost all of them use different drugs. Currently, as well as in the course of their addiction, they use numerous other drugs in an uncontrolled way, especially benzodiazepines. Long‐term heroin addicts on the whole have less treatment experience than persons in the reference studies. The percentage of treatment dropouts is as high among them as among the persons surveyed in other studies. Completed treatment correlated with better results with regard to the duration of abstinence following treatment. The level of information regarding the pending treatment was low among long‐term heroin addicts.

Key words:

• long‐term heroin addiction
• drug addiction
• treatment
• advice
• usage patterns

Notes

University Hospital Eppendorf, Psychiatric Clinic, Martinistraβe 52, 20248 Hamburg, Germany.

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Additional information

Notes on contributors

Michael Krausz

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