Journal of North Khorasan

Background & Objectives: According to the report by Iran Drug Control Headquarters, 657 thousand drug-dependent patients are under maintained treatment in Iran. The aim of present study was investigation of treatment-retention in patients who were undergone the maintained therapy using Methadone, Buprenorphine, and opium tincture in Shirvan city. It should be noted that the treatment with opium tincture is done only in Iran. Therefore, the success of this method is a controversial issue.

Material & Methods: This is an analytical-descriptive study. The population of this study were included all active patients and also patients who have abandoned treatment in 6 public and private addiction treatment centers of Shirvan city in 1394. Data were analyzed by SPSS software, and chi-square test was used to compare the qualitative variables.

Results: Retention rate of Methadone, Buprenorphine, and opium treatments were 84.5%, 71.7%, and 90.1%, respectively. A significant difference was observed among these treatments, so the opium maintained treatment has the highest retention rate.

Conclusion: The results revealed that the retention rate in treatment with opium tincture is higher than that in the other two methods. If we focus on the goals of harm reduction programs, results show that the opium tinctures treatment can reduce significantly the amount of social damage.