Brand-new strategies for treatment of opioid dependent patient

The severity of drug abuse could be evaluated by the economic law. As for the supply-side and demand-side data showed that heroin was still the main abused drug in Taiwan from 2004 to 2008. Particularly the reporting data of abused drugs collected by treatment institutions showed that heroin was the most frequently mentioned one. In 2005, new HIV/AIDS cases among heroin injecting drug users (IDUs) increased rapidly. This drug abuse phenomenon is not only a public safety but also a public health problem. Consequently, Taiwan authorities started to take action – the harm reduction program including information, education, communication, needle-syringes program, and methadone substitution treatment. The percentage of IDU-related HIV/AIDS cases had declined from 72% in 2005 to 14% in 2008. The methadone treatment had positive impact on heroin addicts in aspects of cost-benefit, drug lapse, quality of life, mortality rate and employment rate. Since August 2005, the methadone substitution treatment program has been implemented. The cumulative treated cases has come to 25,683 until 2008, cases in treatment were 11,792 currently. However the preliminary results are promising.

To perfect the medical system of opioid dependence treatment, the strategies should be patient-centered and include: 1.To increase medical treatment coverage rate for addicts. Expanding treatment centers capacity, increasing the availability and convenience of substitution treatment service and service centers. 2. To develop a multi-dimension treatment mode to improve the addict patients' willingness of treatment and the effect of treatment. 3. To reinforce the tracking and rehabilitation of patients including provision of education, employment, medical care and home-care services and social rehabilitation. The intervention of methadone substitution treatment program will assist the addicts in life re-construction.