Methadone Maintenance for Prisoners — MMP  

Heroin Addiction Clinical Trial

Official title: Methadone Maintenance for Prisoners

Status Completed

Clinical Trial Summary

This five-year study examines the benefits of methadone maintenance treatment initiated in prison and continued in the community to male offenders who were previously, but not currently, heroin-dependent. It is anticipated that such prisoners will have more favorable outcomes in the year following release with regard to drug abuse, crime, and HIV risk behavior than either prisoners who receive counseling only or begin initiation of methadone maintenance in the community

Clinical Trial Description

Most prisoners with histories of pre-incarceration heroin addiction do not receive treatment while incarcerated or upon release. Effective treatment for such prisoners is urgently needed because rapid relapse typically follows release. Relapse is associated with increased risk for HIV, overdose death, criminal activity, and reincarceration. Other than three studies of methadone maintenance with short-term jail inmates, the only study of longer-term inmates who were previously, but not currently, heroin-dependent was the investigator's pilot study with pre-release inmates. Based on that pilot study, which found that initiating maintenance treatment is feasible and facilitates post-release treatment entry, the present study provides a more rigorous examination of this unique treatment approach. ;

Study Design

Allocation: Randomized, Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment, Masking: Open Label, Primary Purpose: Treatment

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Heroin Addiction
• Heroin Dependence

• NCT number: NCT00378079
• Study type: Interventional
• Source: Friends Research Institute, Inc.
• Status: Completed
• Phase: Phase 3
• Start date: September 2003
• Completion date: January 2008