ABSTRACT
Providing injectable opiates such as methadone and pharmaceutical heroin (diamorphine) for the treatment of opiate dependence has been a distinctive feature of the British System’s response to drug problems for nearly fifty years. Until recently, the United Kingdom was the only country to prescribe pharmaceutical heroin for opiate dependence and the only country to prescribe injectable methadone ampoules, with the exception of a few patients in Switzerland. While oral methadone is the standard form of maintenance substitution treatment and is effective for most heroin users entering treatment, substitution treatment with injectable opiates has been part of the UK’s drug treatment options since the 1960s, albeit on a small scale.
