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Heroin Addiction and Related Clinical Problems: 1999, 01, 1 (pages: 13 - 17)

Methadone Maintenance. Comes of age

Dole V. P.

Summary: Methadone maintenance treatment in the United States is reaching maturity. During the past three decades it has progressed from an innocent childhood, through a turbulent adolescence, to recognition as an essential medical procedure. At present approximately 115,000 former heroin addicts in the United States are being treated in 750 clinics located in 40 of the 50 states. The treatment has survived challenge by professional sceptics, by ideologically hostile agencies, by competitive modalities, and even by well-intentioned clinicians in methadone programs who have prescribed inadequate doses of the medication