FROM HAMBURG, GERMANY: SUCCESSFUL PREGNANCY OUTCOME WITH HEROIN-ASSISTED TREATMENT OF OPIATE DEPENDENCE:

A successful outcome has just been described in a 31 year old long-time addict who had failed to respond favorably to methadone maintenance. Eur Addict Res. 2008;14(2):113-4. Ultimately, therapeutic decisions require weighing of the alternatives, and whatever reservations one might have about clinical prescribing of heroin to pregnant women, for those whom methadone does not help and who reject other forms of care, the alternative is probably abandonment!

THANKS TO COLLEAGUE HANS-GUENTER MEYER-THOMPSON for calling our attention to this article.