Attitudes to a Proposal for Controlled Availability of Heroin in Australia: Is it Time for a Trial?

Acceptability and availability of pharmacological interventions for substance misuse by British NHS treatment services

“…Our findings were similar to those of Bradbeer et al (1998) and Sell et al (1997), who found a large core of support in England and Wales for substitute prescribing of methadone, and a smaller but still meaningful body of support for substitute amphetamine and heroin prescribing. Despite the cultural similarities among the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada, our UK sample was somewhat less accepting of heroin prescribing than Bammer et al ’s (1996) Australian service providers, and more accepting of both methadone and heroin prescribing than Ogborne & Birchmore‐Timney’s (1998) Canadian drug counsellors. The attitudes of treatment providers in the United States regarding harm reduction interventions for substance abuse also warrants assessment.…”

“…Despite their potential advantages, many of these pharmacological interventions for substance misuse remain controversial and their acceptability within the United Kingdom and other countries has only recently begun to be investigated (Bammer et al 1996; Strang, Sheridan & Barber 1996; Sell et al 1997; Strang & Sheridan 1997b; Bradbeer et al 1998; Ogborne & Birchmore‐Timney 1998). These investigations provide a sound and informative baseline of treatment providers’ acceptance of substitute prescribing of opiates and stimulants, but they assessed attitudes towards only a subset of the variety of medication regimes currently available.…”

Support for harm‐reduction among staff of specialized addiction treatment services in Ontario, Canada

“…One Australian study examined the attitudes of treatment services providers towards a controlled trial invoMng the prescription of heroin to narcotic addicts. The results showed that 71% supported a trial, 19% were not supportive and 9% were undecided [13]. Those whose personal philosophy favoured abstinence were far less likely to support a heroin trial (36%) than those not reporting an abstinence philosophy (86%).…”

Disciplining Interdisciplinarity: Integration and Implementation Sciences for Researching Complex Real-World Problems

“…It is not only explicit rather than implicit, but also involves thinking about the disciplinary skills needed, rather than just using an expert who is conveniently available and letting them do what they are best at, regardless of how central it is to the problem being examined. 9 The remainder was undecided (Bammer et al 1996). 10 All of the methods listed were used in the feasibility of diamorphine prescription research and the length and intensity of interactions were also very variable.…”