Addiction treatment

As hopeless as the prospects seem for the population Maté serves in the Downtown Eastside, research and anecdotal evidence testify that some treatments can help addicts overcome or reduce drug dependence.3 This paper examines past and current approaches to drug addiction treatment and evidence about the effectiveness of a range of established, experimental and even unauthorized therapies. [...] The committee’s report in1952 recommended a pilot medical treatment and rehabilitation centre for drug users and provincial clinics that would provide maintenance doses of narcotics for addicts.16 In 1955, the B. C. government announced a grant for the creation of the first centre in Canada for addicts voluntarily seeking treatment.17. [...] The long-term inpatient withdrawal program he started in 1963 might have been the first methadone treatment program in the world.19 20 In 1973 the use of prescribed heroin to treat heroin addicts who had failed other treatments was recommended by the federal commission of inquiry headed by Gerald Le Dain.21 The report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Non-Medical Use of Drugs also recommended [...] Nationally, the 2002/03 First Nations Regional Longitudinal Health Survey found a higher proportion of drug users among the First Nations population, compared to the general population.38 The use of prescription drugs such as codeine, morphine and opiates among First Nations individuals over the previous year was 12.2 per cent, and the use of sedatives was 3.1 per cent. [...] A 2005 report on availability and use of evidence-based treatment for the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse found “reasonably good empirical support” for cognitive-behavioural treatment for drug problems as well as alcoholism.66 The review suggested the structure and efficiency as well as the use of manuals in this type of therapy help ensure treatment quality.