Understanding an emerging treatment population: Protocol for and baseline characteristics of a prospective cohort of people receiving treatment for pharmaceutical opioid dependence.

Introduction And Aims: Despite large increases in pharmaceutical opioid dependence and related mortality, few studies have focused on the characteristics and treatment experiences of those with pharmaceutical opioid dependence. We describe the formation of a prospective cohort of people receiving treatment for pharmaceutical opioid dependence and describe their baseline characteristics.

Design And Methods: People who had entered treatment for pharmaceutical opioid dependence (n = 108) were recruited through drug treatment services in New South Wales, Australia.

Naltrexone in alcohol dependence: a randomised controlled trial of effectiveness in a standard clinical setting.

Objectives: To determine whether naltrexone is beneficial in the treatment of alcohol dependence in the absence of obligatory psychosocial intervention.

Design: Multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

Setting: Hospital-based drug and alcohol clinics, 18 March 1998 - 22 October 1999.