A novel opioid maintenance program for prisoners: preliminary findings.
Effective postincarceration treatment for individuals with preincarceration heroin dependence is urgently needed because relapse typically follows release. This article presents first-year findings from a unique 2-year pilot study of opioid agonist maintenance treatment initiated in prison and continued in the community. Incarcerated males with preincarceration heroin dependence were randomly assigned to Levo-alpha-acetylmethadol (LAAM) maintenance or control conditions 3 months before release. Approximately 92% of eligible inmates volunteered to participate; 36 of 58 subjects who were eligible and randomly assigned to LAAM maintenance successfully initiated treatment. Twenty-eight of these continued on LAAM until release; 22 (78.6%) entered community-based maintenance treatment; and 11 (50%) remained in treatment at least 6 months postrelease. Changes in LAAM's labeling because of its association with cardiac arrhythmias now makes it a second-line treatment for heroin dependence, unsuitable for treatment initiation. Nonetheless, study findings may also be applicable to methadone maintenance treatment, suggesting such treatment may be a promising means of engaging prisoners with preincarceration heroin dependence into continuing treatment.
Kinlock
Timothy W
TW
Social Research Center, Friends Research Institute, 1040 Park Avenue, Suite 103, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA. tkinlock@frisrc.org
Battjes
Robert J
RJ
Schwartz
Robert P
RP
D000328:Adult; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008692:Methadyl Acetate / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D009294:Narcotics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D009293:Opioid-Related Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011329:Prisoners / Q000523:psychology*; D055502:Secondary Prevention
D009294:Narcotics; D008692:Methadyl Acetate