Potential impacts on the incidence of fatal heroin-related overdose in Western Australia: a time-series analysis.

In response to the rising concerns about the rate of heroin-related fatalities, overdose prevention campaigns, run by both users' organizations and government agencies, have been implemented in a number of states across Australia. In Western Australia (WA) in mid-1997, various overdose prevention initiatives were implemented. These included the implementation of a protocol limiting police presence at overdose events; the commencement of naloxone administration by ambulance staff; and the establishment of the Opiate Overdose Prevention Strategy (OOPS) which provided follow-up for individuals treated for overdose in emergency departments.

Patterns of drug use by participants in the Western Australian methadone program, 1984-1991.

Objectives: To establish the extent to which participants in the WA methadone treatment program used opiates, cannabinoids, benzodiazepines, cocaine and amphetamines, and to define the pattern of such use over time. In addition, the relationships between methadone daily dose and the use of the various drug groups was examined.

Design: A retrospective analysis of data from 1678 samples from urinalysis screening over 13 separate surveys between 1984 and 1991.

Buprenorphine: a new maintenance opiate?

Heroin-dependent out-patients who had been prescribed buprenorphine by general practitioners took part in a controlled study in which 2 mg or 4 mg of buprenorphine were administered by the sublingual route to assess its acceptability as a maintenance opiate and to determine the effects of its abrupt withdrawal and reintroduction a week later. Subjects who received 4 mg of buprenorphine reported being more intoxicated and having fewer symptoms of opiate withdrawal than did the subjects who received the 2-mg dose. Subjects who received the higher dose also abused opiate and benzodiazepine drugs less frequently.

Extraneous drug use in methadone-supported patients.

Weekly urine specimens were collected and analysed from 231 patients receiving daily oral methadone support from the Western Australian Alcohol and Drug Authority over all or part of an eight-week period. Patients were assigned to three dosage groups. The study revealed that patients receiving 80 mg or more of methadone per day had significantly higher levels of extraneous drugs than patients receiving lower daily doses.