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Clinic Attendance and Opiate Prescription Status of Heroin Addicts over a Six-Year Period

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Anthony Thorley ,
Edna Oppenheimer  and
Gerry V. Stimson
Anthony Thorley
Affiliation:
Addiction Research Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, 101 Denmark Hilly London, SE5
Edna Oppenheimer
Affiliation:
Addiction Research Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, 101 Denmark Hilly London, SE5
Gerry V. Stimson
Affiliation:
Addiction Research Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, 101 Denmark Hilly London, SE5
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Summary

Home Office records were used to trace the current status of a sample of 128 persons for whom heroin was prescribed in 1969 at Drug Dependence Clinics in London. In October 1975, after a mean time since self-reported first use of heroin of 11 · 25 years, 51 per cent were attending clinics, 40 per cent alive and not attending, and 9 per cent dead. One third of the sample were still receiving heroin on prescription, and 23 per cent appeared to have received heroin without interruption since 1969. The report points to the need for career studies of addicts' lives and the need for follow-up interviews, especially for the 40 per cent no longer attending clinics.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 130 , Issue 6 , June 1977 , pp. 565 - 569
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1977 

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