Germany Begins Heroin Maintenance Research
Thursday, March 28, 2002
(Taken from the Drug
Policy Alliance Website- formerly the Lindesmith Center-Drug
Policy Foundation)
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Germany has an estimated 120,000 heroin addicts.
In an effort to determine the viability of heroin maintenance
as a means of stabilizing incorrigible addicts and drying up the
illicit market, 1,120 heroin users are now part of a three-year
nationwide experiment. Half of the test subjects will receive
prescription heroin; the other half will receive methadone. Addicts
who previously had to come with an estimated $3,500 per month
to feed an expensive habit will now receive the drug for free.
Bonn was the first city to begin heroin maintenance trials. Hamburg,
Hannover, Frankfurt, Cologne, Munich and Karlsruhe are expected
to begin distributing heroin by July 2002.
There is a significant body of research that
suggests heroin maintenance therapies both improve the health
of users and reduce criminal activity. Research on heroin maintenance
conducted in Switzerland and Britain has yielded positive findings,
but the German Health Ministry decided to move forward with their
own research due to perceived limitations in previous research.
Rather than rely on self-reporting, German researchers will test
the blood, hair and urine of participants in order to verify patterns
of drug use.
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