Methadone maintenance therapy versus no opioid replacement therapy for opioid dependence.

Methadone maintenance treatment can keep people who are dependent on heroin in treatment programs and reduce their use of heroin. Methadone is the most widely used replacement for heroin in medically-supported maintenance or detoxification programs. Several non-drug detoxification and rehabilitation methods are also used to try and help people withdraw from heroin. However thereview found that people have withdrawn from trials when they are assigned to a drug-free program. Consequently, there are no trials comparing methadone maintenance treatment with drug-free methods other than methadone placebo trials, or comparing methadone maintenance with methadone for detoxification only. These trials show that methadone can reduce the use of heroin in dependent people, and keep them in treatment programs.

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