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New Research on a Controversial Treatment

Richard M. Glass, MD

JAMA. 1993;269(15):1995-1996.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

In a 1965 JAMA article, Dole and Nyswander¹ presented an initial evaluation of what was then a new treatment for heroin addiction: methadone maintenance. These pioneering physicians recognized that drug-free treatments for opiate addiction were rarely successful, and that except for overdoses, the severe medical complications of heroin addiction were due to the hazards of unsterile injections rather than direct drug toxic effects. They reported that prescription of daily doses of methadone hydrochloride, a long-acting and orally effective synthetic opioid, could relieve craving for heroin and block its euphoric effects while creating a condition of pharmacologic stability that permitted psychosocial treatment and rehabilitation of patients whose lives had previously been dominated by their addiction.

See also p 1953.

The development of this medical treatment abetted the conceptualization of addiction as a disease, and increased the involvement of physicians in its treatment. However, methadone maintenance treatment was immediately controversial² . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Footnotes
Dr Glass is deputy editor of JAMA.

Reprint requests to JAMA, 515 N State St, Chicago, IL 60610 (Dr Glass).

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