Case 2: Heroin Use and HIV

Question | Discussion | References | CME Credit

You answered:

	For a chronic heroin user, medical detoxification with methadone is more likely than methadone maintenance therapy to successfully reduce long-term heroin use.

This answer is incorrect. For long-term heroin users, methadone maintenance therapy is generally associated with better treatment retention and decreased use of heroin compared with detoxification using methadone. Good candidates for medical detoxification include younger patients and those with a relatively short duration of heroin use.

Choose another answer:

	In the United States, any physician can administer methadone maintenance to an HIV-infected patient after completing a three-hour training course regarding appropriate use of methadone for treatment of heroin addiction.
	The use of buprenorphine in the out-patient setting is limited by its very short half-life and the required four times a day administration.
	In the United States, buprenorphine may now be provided legally through outpatient medical clinics, but physicians who intend to prescribe buprenorphine are required to undergo special training and receive a waiver from the SAMHSA Center for Substance Abuse Treatment.

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