Detoxification from Heroin Using Self vs Physician Regulation of Methadone Dose

Abstract

Self-regulation of methadone dose during detoxification was compared to a fixed dose schedule. Human self-regulators tended to maintain themselves on a stable methadone dose until forced to detoxify, but used less heroin and remained in treatment longer than the control group. A longer initial period of methadone stabilization may be useful in enabling addicts to detoxify successfully.