Skip Navigation

The European Journal of Public Health 2002 12(3):224-227; doi:10.1093/eurpub/12.3.224
© 2002 by European Journal of Public Health
This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (4)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Niveau, G.
Right arrow Articles by La Harpe, R.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Niveau, G.
Right arrow Articles by La Harpe, R.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Substance Abuse

Methadone maintenance treatment, criminality and overdose-related deaths

An ecological study, 1983–1999

Gérard Niveau1, Anne-Laure Rougemont1 and Romano La Harpe1

1 Institut Universitaire de Médecine Légale, Geneva, Switzerland

Background: Methadone maintenance treatments (MMTs) are the commonest substitution treatments offered to opiate addiction in Switzerland, in order to reduce criminal behaviour, infectious disease transmission and overdose death. Method: To investigate the relationship between the increase in the number of methadone maintenance treatments, criminal activity of addicts and overdose-related deaths, an ecological study was undertaken in the Canton of Geneva, from 1983 to 1999. Results: The regular and extensive increase in the number of MMTs is not significantly associated, during the 1983–1999 period, with a fall either in drug addict incarcerations or in overdose-related deaths. However, a slight decrease is observed in the number of imprisoned opiate addicts since 1994, and a marked decrease is seen in overdose deaths from 1997 on. An important and stable number of these deaths is due to methadone itself. Conclusion: Public health objectives to diminish delinquency and overdose deaths cannot solely be fulfilled by extensive use of MMTs. A positive result could appear when access to MMT is highly favoured. This hypothesis must be proved correct by observational studies conducted on a general population.

Keywords: delinquency; drug abuse; ecological study; methadone; overdose death

Received 19 February 2001. Accepted 19 October 2001.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.