[Prevention of Drug-related Mortality after Release from Prison].

The transition process of release from prisons into the community is associated with high risks for users of opioids. Especially in the first 10-14 days in freedom, the risk of drug-related overdoses is extremely high, in the worst case with lethal outcome. There are two main medical strategies for the target group: on the one hand, medication-assisted treatment before, during and after incarceration, and on the other hand, edcuation about and acccess to naloxone as an antidote in case of opioid-related overdose.

Opioid substitution therapy for people living in German prisons-inequality compared with civic sector.

Background: The above-average proportion of people with opioid use disorder living in prisons is a worldwide reality, and the need to treat these people was recognized internationally more than 20 years ago. Studies have shown that substitution therapies are best suited to treat opioid use disorder and reduce the risk of HIV and hepatitis C transmission and overdose. However, huge health inequalities exist in and outside of prison due to the different implementation of opioid substitution therapy (OST).

Harm reduction--from a conceptual framework to practical experience: the example of Germany.

Drug demand reduction programs must be integrated into a comprehensive strategy aiming at preventing drug misuse, facilitating access to counseling, to treatment of dependence, and to rehabilitation; and establishing effective measures to reduce the adverse health and social consequences of drug misuse. The continuous and even rising spread of HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases (e.g.

Drug use and opioid substitution treatment for prisoners.

Drug use is prevalent throughout prison populations, and, despite advances in drug treatment programmes for inmates, access to and the quality of these programmes remain substantially poorer than those available for non-incarcerated drug users. Because prisoners may be at greater risk for some of the harms associated with drug use, they deserve therapeutic modalities and attitudes that are at least equal to those available for drug users outside prison. This article discusses drug use by inmates and its associated harms.

Comparison of drug abuse in Germany and China.

Drug abuse has a long, but also different history in Germany and China. The Opium War largely influenced the history of China in 19th century; however, China was once recognized as a drug-free nation for 3 decades from the 1950s to the 1980s. Drug abuse has spread quickly since re-emerging as a national problem in China in the late 1980s.

Substitution treatment for opioid addicts in Germany.

Background: After a long and controversial debate methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) was first introduced in Germany in 1987. The number of patients in MMT--first low because of strict admission criteria--increased considerably since the 1990s up to some 65,000 at the end of 2006. In Germany each general practitioner (GP), who has completed an additional training in addiction medicine, is allowed to prescribe substitution drugs to opioid dependent patients.