title: [The indication for heroin prescription - considerations with the historical example of the opiate addicted Swiss author Friedrich Glauser (1896 - 1938)].
abstract: Traditional indications for the prescription of opioids to addicts are continuous opioid abuse despite qualified addiction treatment or temporary substitution treatment, if temporarily detoxification is not possible due to external circumstances. These criteria are demonstrated by an historical example, the treatment of the opioid addicted Swiss author Friedrich Glauser (1896-1938). From a modern public health perspective, however, opioid abuse is mainly conceptualised as risk behaviour with aversive consequences for the individual abuser and the public. These consequences should be reduced by prescription of hygienically safe heroin. In this concept, the failure of former addiction treatment is not a necessary condition for heroin prescription. Difficulties in reaching an agreement about indications for heroin prescription are partially results of inherent contradictions between an individual centered traditional medical concept and a public health concept about the goals of opioid addiction treatment.
authors.affiliation: Klinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie, Rheinische Kliniken Essen, Universität Essen.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Scherbaum
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D011307:Drug Prescriptions; D003932:Heroin / Q000266:history* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009294:Narcotics / Q000266:history* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D009293:Opioid-Related Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000266:history*; D013557:Switzerland
chemical_list: D009294:Narcotics; D003932:Heroin
vernacular_title: Die Indikation zur ärztlichen Heroinverschreibung - Uberlegungen anhand der Biografie des opiatabhängigen Schriftstellers Friedrich Glauser (1896 - 1938).