Descriptive analysis of cocaïne use of methadone patients

FRANÇAIS :
Les patients en traitement de maintenance font généralement un usage de faibles doses de cocaïne, en comparaison des patients non-dépendants d'opiacés en traitement de sevrage de cocaïne. L'étude montre aussi que les patients ont de nettes préférences pour les associations de drogues.
ENGLISH :
This study examined the cocaine use of methadone maintenance patients to determine amounts and patterns of use as well as use in combination with other drugs. Forty-five cocaine using methadone maintenance patients (78 % used i. v.) reported their drug use for each day over the past 7 days after receiving information about their most recent urinalysis test results. Average reported use was 0.23 g cocaine/day on 3.4 days/week. Heroin and cocaine were typically used simultaneously, while only a subset of patients (47%) who used alcohol drank within close proximity to cocaine. Patients who used cocaine with alcohol and/or heroin on the same day (N = 28) reported more cocaine use (M = 1.0g/week) than patients who used cocaine alone (N = 17 ; M = 0.49g/week). The results suggest that methadone maintenance patients generally engage in relatively low dose cocaine use, especially when compared to non opioid dependent patients applying to cocaine treatment programs. The study further shows that patients had clear preferences for drug use combinations, which suggest that interventions for cocaine use might focus on modifying drugs used in combination with cocaine. (Extract from the author's abstract)