The Malaysian government starting treating IDUs with methadone in October 2005. At a recent conference on drug addiction, the government reported high retention rates in their pilot program and announced they intend to scale up treatment substantially. Additionally, The Malaysian Aids Foundation (MAF) has added its support for the continued prescribing of methadone to IDUs. MAF chair Prof Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman said this week in a news interview, "We give our 100 per cent support to the Methadone project...it is very effective. At least it can reduce the number of deaths due to drug abuse."

Peter Piot, the executive director, notes that China is a land of contrasts. On a recent visit to China, he observed, "Frankly, two years ago I could not have dreamt that there would be close to 300 methadone- providing clinics for injecting drug users across the country." He also noted, however, "...a mismatch between high-level policy and enforcement on the ground. He said China's public security organs, which have in the past harassed and detained AIDS activists, must lay off." Full story: Click Here

The recently published article states that there are 1,080 MMT programs in US with estimated 215,667 patients enrolled. It notes, “Methadone relieves the cravings associated with heroin use., Craving is a major relapse trigger. Properly prescribed methadone is not intoxicating or sedating, and its use does not interfere with normal activities of daily living. The ability to drive an automobile or operate machinery is not impaired by the use of properly prescribed methadone.” As for efficacy: “Studies have shown MMT significantly lowers illicit opiate drug use, reduces crime and enhances social productivity.”

This website (which can be found by cutting and pasting this address into the browser after the http://www 202.64.76.168/en/enquiry.asp) is an extraordinarily user-friendly, customized, statistical analysis of drug abuse. It is available from the Central Registry of Drug Abuse, Hong Kong. The Registry has been collecting data consistently for exactly 30 years (first report published in September, 1976). It is a unique resource for studying trends in drug use (and drug users) over time.

In just 48 hours stories appeared concerning community opposition to establishment of methadone treatment facilities in Baltimore, Bluefield (West Virginia), Cherryfield (Maine) and Fort Payne (Alabama).

A call for more treatment with medication such as methadone, buprenorphine and slow-release morphine. At a press conference on the 29th of August addiction experts called for more opioid agonist maintenance treatment above all else in the fight against drug use. Professor Dr. Gabriele Fischer of the University Clinic of Vienna, along with the leadership of the Austrian Association for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, noted the critically important role that "substitution" treatment can and must play to reduce illegal drug use, lower mortality rates and lessen spread of infectious diseases such as AIDS and hepatitis. Currently only about 10% of the roughly 50-70,000 opiate-dependent Austrians receive such treatment.

Dr. Fiellin and co-authors report results of buprenorphine-naloxone administration with varying counseling intensity and number of weekly visits (NEJM vol 355, 2006). Of 497 individuals “assessed for eligibility,” 67% did not meet inclusion criteria or failed to complete induction; inevitably, it calls into question how representative the results can be, and just how and to whom they can be extrapolated. As for the reported findings for the remaining one- third drug users that were assessed, 52-61% were lost to follow-up at 24 weeks. This compares to 42% drop-out rate at six months in Fudala's buprenorphine study (NEJM vol 349, 2003) and 41% in a study by Stein (J Gen Int Med vol 20, 2005). As for effectiveness data beyond retention per se, 56-60% of urine toxicologies in the Fiellin study were positive.