ArticleHarm reduction journal2019
Non-prescribed use of methadone and buprenorphine prior to opioid substitution treatment: lifetime prevalence, motives, and drug sources among people with opioid dependence in five Swedish cities.
Article in Harm reduction journal, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
What it found
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 31 citations in OpenAlex.
- Concurrent Use of Extra-Medical Medication for Opioid Use Disorder Among Adults Prescribed Methadone or Buprenorphine: A Cohort Study of Urban Adults Who Have Injected Drugs.Drug and alcohol review · 2026Article
- Who are we reaching? Identifying subgroups among individuals seeking help for opioid use disorder.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Non-Prescribed Use of Opioid Agonist Medications and Associations with Non-Fatal Overdoses: A Repeated Cross-Sectional Study across a Decade of Reduced Monitoring.European addiction research · 2025Article
- Article
- Predictors of future overdose among people who inject drugs in Baltimore, Maryland.Drug and alcohol dependence reports · 2024Article
- Patterns of care contacts in the final year of life among opioid overdose fatalities in southern Sweden: a latent class analysis.Harm reduction journal · 2024Article
- Sources of nonmedically used prescription psychotherapeutic drugs using real-world data from adolescents and adults assessed for substance use treatment--2014-2022.Research in social & administrative pharmacy : RSAP · 2024Article
- Opioid coping motives and pain intensity among adults with chronic low back pain: associations with mood, pain reactivity, and opioid misuse.Journal of behavioral medicine · 2023Article
- Drug prescriptions preceding opioid-related deaths-a register study in forensic autopsy patients.PloS one · 2023Observational
- Editorial: The outbreak and sequelae of the increase in opioid use in the United States, Canada, and beyond.Frontiers in sociology · 2022Article
- The Role of Risk or Contributory Death Factors in Methadone-Related Fatalities: A Review and Pooled Analysis.Metabolites · 2021Article
- Factors associated with health-related cannabis use intentions among a community sample of people who inject drugs in Los Angeles and San Francisco, CA 2016 to 2018.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2021Article
- Barriers to Medications for Opioid Use Disorder Among Veterans Involved in the Legal System: a Qualitative Study.Journal of general internal medicine · 2020Article
- Investigating opioid-related fatalities in southern Sweden: contact with care-providing authorities and comparison of substances.Harm reduction journal · 2020Article
- Characteristics Associated with Nonmedical Methadone Use among People Who Inject Drugs in California.Substance use & misuse · 2020Article
- Bridging the Macro-micro Divide: A Qualitative Meta-synthesis on the Perspectives and Experiences of Health Care Providers on the Extramedical Use and Diversion of Buprenorphine.Journal of addiction medicineReview
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundOpioid substitution treatment (OST) with methadone or buprenorphine is the most effective means of treating opioid dependence. If these substances are used by people who are not undergoing OST, they can however carry serious risks. This article examines the lifetime prevalence, motives, and drug sources for such use, as well as geographical differences in these variables.
methodsStructured interviews were conducted with 411 patients from 11 OST clinics in five Swedish cities. The researchers carried out 280 interviews on-site, while 131 interviews were conducted by specially trained patients through privileged access interviewing. Data were analyzed by frequency and average calculations, cross-tabulations, and χ
resultsThe lifetime prevalence of non-prescribed use was 87.8% for methadone, 80.5% for buprenorphine, and 50.6% for buprenorphine/naloxone. Pseudo-therapeutic motives-avoiding withdrawal symptoms, staying clean from heroin, detoxification, or taking care of one's own OST-were commonly cited as driving the use, while using the drugs for euphoric purposes was a less common motive. Most respondents had bought or received the substances from patients in OST, but dealers were also a significant source of non-prescribed methadone and buprenorphine. Geographical differences of use, motives, and sources suggest that prescription practices in OST have a great impact on which substances are used outside of the treatment.
conclusionsExperiences of non-prescribed use of methadone and buprenorphine are extremely common among those in OST in southern Sweden. As the use is typically driven by pseudo-therapeutic motives, increased access to OST might decrease the illicit demand for these substances. Buprenorphine/naloxone has a lower abuse potential than buprenorphine and should therefore be prioritized as the prescribed drug. Supervised dosage and other control measures are important provisions in the prevention of drug diversion and non-prescribed use among people not undergoing OST.
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Registered trials
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