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Abstract
Data are presented on benefits observed in the immediate post-recruitment phase of outpatient treatment of opiate addicts with oral methadone. On re-interview by independent researchers at one-month, levels of drug use had reduced, with weekly intake of heroin reducing to a fifth, and of cocaine to a quarter (with significant reductions in both frequency of use and in amounts used per occasion). Significantly fewer opiate addicts were still injecting at follow-up, and those who were injecting were doing so less often. Measures of both physical and psychological health showed significant improvements over the first month of methadone treatment. A trend of reduction in involvement in acquisitive crime was also found. The finding of such wide-spread benefits so early within methadone treatment is encouraging in view of the recent increased provision of methadone programmes in the UK. However, the early acquisition of such benefits should prompt more rigorous study of the extent to which these changes are associated with the prescribed drug, the associated programme or the process of treatment engagement.