Study links increased access to methadone and decrease in spread of HIV
Posted August 10, 2015 10:39 am.
Last Updated August 10, 2015 10:41 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – There is a link between increased access to methadone for injection drug users and a decrease in the spread of HIV, according to a new study.
Dr. Keith Ahamad with the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS says researchers looked at a group of users on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside over a 13-year period.
“We noticed that those who were prescribed methadone when we first saw them… were significantly less likely — almost four times less likely — to contract HIV,” he explains.
The study, published in the journal “The Lancet HIV,” recommends other jurisdictions adopt BC’s model of allowing methadone be prescribed by primary care physicians.
“We prescribe methadone through any family doctor or primary care physician who has taken the appropriate course. You can then go and pick up the medication at any pharmacy.”
The research comes just as BC’s methadone maintenance program comes under provincial review.
