Methadone Treatment of Heroin Addicts

Of a random sample of 100 clinic patients receiving methadone maintenance treatment, a majority were still using heroin. The most puzzling finding was that patients who had been in treatment the longest (four to six months) showed evidence of a higher rate of heroin usage than recently admitted patients. A longer-term follow-up study of the same sample group is clearly of some importance, and side-effects of treatment warrant more careful study. There is reasonably strong clinical evidence that methadone is abused.