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To the Editor: The article on the treatment of opiate addiction based on a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Consensus Conference¹ is inaccurate, misleading, and misguided in its attempt to "provide clinicians, patients, and the general public with a responsible assessment of the effective approaches to treat opiate dependence."

One of the major flaws of this article is a failure to define the terms dependence and addiction. Throughout this article these terms are used interchangeably. The basic flaw in the consensus panel's assumption is that opiate dependence is a medical disorder that needs treatment and that individuals and society will benefit from providing this treatment. Beginning with this flawed premise, the consensus panel goes on to the flawed conclusion that opiate dependence (what they mean to say is opiate addiction) is a medical disorder with biological, psychological, sociological, and economic factors. They indicate that when certain persons begin to . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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Effective Medical Treatment of Opiate Addiction
National Consensus Development Panel on Effective Medical Treatment of Opiate Addiction
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