Abstract
The effect of methadone dose on cocaine abuse in methadone-maintained patients was examined in two protocol at separate treatment sites in the Yale Department of Psychiatry. in one protocol, methadone dose was lowered in response to each cocaine-positive urine and raised to a maximum of 70 mg in response to abstinence (negative urine toxicology screen for 2 weeks. of 22 patients treated under this protocol, 33% stopped cocaine use for a minimum of 2 weeks. in a second protocol, methadone dose was raised in response to each cocaine-positive urine to a maximum dose of 120 mg qd. Ten patients have entered this protocol to date, and 8 responded to this treatment by stopping cocaine abuse for a minimum of 2 weeks. Thus, the increasing methadone dose contingency treatment was more effective (80% us. 3396, P = 0.02, Fisher's Exact Test).