KHOROG, August 31, 2010, Asia-Plus — A seminar on using methadone for treatment of opioid dependence took place in Khorog, Gorno Badakhshan on August 30.
Organized by the Drug Addiction Prevention and Monitoring Center within the Ministry of Health, the meeting brought together medical workers, clerics, law enforcement officers and journalists to discuss introduction of the substitutive methadone therapy (SMT) in the region.
Speaking at the meeting, the Drug Addiction Prevention and Monitoring Center director Shokirjon Mahmadnazarov noted that SMT had significant benefits. According to him, the Ministry of Health has given permission for use of SMT at narcology centers in Dushanbe, Khujand and Khoorg.
The GBAO Narcology head physician Mouso Mardonov noted that a first, 50 drug addicts would receive SMT in the region. The duration of the substitutive methadone therapy is six months. “If the treatment results are positive, it may be used for treatment of wider range of drug addicts with support of the Ministry of Health and the Global Fund,” Mardonov said.
Methadone is a synthetic opioid, used medically as an analgesic, antitussive and a maintenance anti-addictive for use in patients on opioids. It was developed in Germany in 1937. Although chemically unlike morphine or heroin, methadone also acts on the opioid receptors and thus produces many of the same effects.
SMT, a form of opiate replacement therapy, reduces and/or eliminates the use of illicit opiates, the criminality associated with opiate use, and allows patients to improve their health and social productivity. In addition, enrollment in methadone maintenance has the potential to reduce the transmission of infectious diseases associated with opiate injection, such as hepatitis and HIV. The
principal effects of methadone maintenance are to relieve narcotic craving, suppress the abstinence syndrome, and block the euphoric effects associated with opiates. Methadone maintenance has been found to be medically safe and non-sedating.
It is also indicated for pregnant women addicted to opiates.
