IN SUPPORT OF THE NOTION THAT OPIATE ADDICTION IS TREATABLE BUT NOT CURABLE:

A literature review published in 2005 analyzed reported abstinence rates AFTER detoxification form methadone maintenance. It found that, collectively, only 32% of some 1900 patients were defined as “abstinent” after an average period of observation of 27 months. It should also be noted that some definitions of “abstinence” were very loose: one defined it as including “at least one month during the follow-up period with no intense use.” One can only hope that patients considering detoxification from successful methadone maintenance treatment are being advised up front of these very gloomy results. As for treatment providers who encourage (or force) patients to detoxify, one has to wonder about their clinical and ethical judgment. The review: Kornor H and Waal H: From opioid maintenance to abstinence: a literature review.” Drug and Alc Rev 24:267-274, 2005

FROM HERMAN JOSEPH, NYC, THE FOLLOWING COMMENT (blogged with permission) : That study seems to fall into the work that I did with Dole and the review in the MT Sinai journal of medicine which i commissioned from Magura and Rosenblum who did an article on the subject when i was guest editor--They did the classic Leaving methadone lessons learned lessons forgotten--By the way he should also include excessive use of other drugs such as alcohol since patients abstained from heroin only to drink excessively and eventually die from alcoholism--The Magura article is in volume 68 number 1 January 2001 of the Mount Sinai Journal of medicine--Also see the article causes of death in Vol 67 number 5&6 Oct /Nov 2000 by Appel, Joseph and Richman--Both articles are in the issues that I edited and can be downloaded free from the Internet by going to the web site of the Mount Sinai Journal of Medicine and clicking on past issues You can google it --very simple
Herman