Survey of doctors prescribing diamorphine (heroin) to opiate‐dependent drug users in the United Kingdom

Abstract

The prescribing of diamorphine to opiate dependent drug users remains rare in the United Kingdom. Not all eligible doctors seek a licence to prescribe, and not all those with licences actually prescribe it. There is no clear consensus on who should be treated with diamorphine and in what way.

Heroin-assisted Treatment (HAT) a Decade Later: A Brief Update on Science and Politics

“…36,37 The RIOTT study introduces the new modality of supervised injecting to the UK context. In this new setting, it aims to recruit regular injection heroin users currently not sufficiently benefiting from MMT treatment; it consists of two experimental intervention arms, namely, injection heroin and injection methadone treatment, 38 both of which are compared to optimized (oral) MMT in three planned study centers.…”

[Commentary] FUTURE CHALLENGES FOR HEROIN AND OTHER OPIOID SUBSTITUTION TREATMENT

“…The first two points could be achieved by allowing take-away doses of heroin (as occurs traditionally in Britain). However, this raises concerns regarding safety, given the continued high levels of life-threatening adverse events (respiratory depression, seizures) reported by Verthein and colleagues; and concerns about risks of medication diversion, which in turn erodes practitioner and community support [8].…”

Prescribing heroin for addiction: Some untapped potentials and unanswered questions

“…In the 1960s however prescription became cause for concern as heroin filtered out into the black market; the number of users known to the Home Office increased dramatically from ninety-four in 1960, to 2240 in 1968 (Seddon, 2007: 64 There were 448 patients prescribed heroin in the UK at this time (Metrebian et al, 2002(Metrebian et al, : 1157.…”