ArticleDrug and alcohol review2020
Understanding concurrent stimulant use among people on methadone: A qualitative study.
Article in Drug and alcohol review, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
31 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 45 citations in OpenAlex.
- The impact of methamphetamine/amphetamine use on receipt and outcomes of medications for opioid use disorder: a systematic review.Addiction science & clinical practice · 2021Pooled it
- Comparative Effectiveness of Buprenorphine/Naloxone and Methadone on Methamphetamine/Amphetamine Use Among People with Opioid Use Disorder in Canada.Substance use & addiction journal · 2025Trial
- Polysubstance use in Canada: prevalence, patterns, and self-reported harms from the 2023 Canadian Substance Use Survey.BMC public health · 2026Article
- "With this you're not chained down to something": contrasting experiences of opioid agonist treatment and safer supply program participation among people receiving prescribed safer supply.Harm reduction journal · 2026Article
- Trends in stimulant use among patients with opioid use disorder receiving substance use treatment: Findings from a prospective cohort study from 2013 to 2020.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2025Article
- Longitudinal polysubstance use patterns and non-fatal overdose: A repeated measures latent class analysis.The International journal on drug policy · 2025Article
- State sequence analysis of daily methadone dispensing trajectories among individuals at United States opioid treatment programs before and following COVID-19 onset.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2025Article
- Ecological momentary assessment study of same-hour polysubstance use among people who use opioids and additional substances.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2025Article
- "I Can Combine Those Things to be a Superhero" a Qualitative Study of the Motivations for High-Risk Polysubstance Use.Journal of drug issues · 2024Article
- Perceptions of stigma among people with lived experience of methamphetamine use within the hospital setting: qualitative point-in-time interviews and thematic analyses of experiences.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Longitudinal latent polysubstance use patterns among a cohort of people who use opioids in Vancouver, Canada.Drug and alcohol review · 2023Article
- Crystal methamphetamine use and methadone maintenance treatment dissatisfaction: A prospective cohort study in Vancouver, Canada.Journal of substance use and addiction treatment · 2023Article
- Transitioning off methadone: A qualitative study exploring why patients discontinue methadone treatment for opioid use disorder.Journal of substance use and addiction treatment · 2023Article
- Drug use patterns and factors related to the use and discontinuation of medications for opioid use disorder in the age of fentanyl: findings from a mixed-methods study of people who use drugs.Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy · 2023Article
- Between Care and Control: Examining Surveillance Practices in Harm Reduction.Contemporary drug problems · 2023Article
- Opioid agonist therapy engagement and crystal methamphetamine use: The impact of unregulated opioid use in Vancouver, Canada.The International journal on drug policy · 2022Article
- Concurrent use of opioids and stimulants and risk of fatal overdose: A cohort study.BMC public health · 2022Article
- Predictors of crystal methamphetamine use initiation or re-initiation among people receiving opioid agonist therapy: A prospective cohort study.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2022Article
- The practice and embodiment of "goofballs": A qualitative study exploring the co-injection of methamphetamines and opioids.The International journal on drug policy · 2022Article
- Initiation of opioid agonist treatment and subsequent substance use and other patterns among adolescents and young adults in Vancouver, Canada.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
INTRODUCTION AND
aimsOpioid-related overdoses are an epidemic in North America, prompting a greater use of medications for opioid use disorder, such as methadone. Although many people work toward overall drug abstinence while on methadone, a sub-population of people with and without histories of polysubstance use engage in stimulant use while on methadone treatment. This study explores motivations for concurrent stimulant and methadone use in a street-involved drug-using population. DESIGN AND
methodsSemi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 39 people on methadone in Vancouver, Canada. Participants were recruited from among the participants in two community-based prospective cohort studies consisting of HIV-positive and HIV-negative people who use drugs. Interview transcripts were analysed using an inductive and iterative approach.
resultsOur analysis identified three primary themes. First, participants articulated how stimulants were used to counter the sedating effects of methadone and enable them to engage in daily and survival activities (e.g. income generation). Second, participants described increased stimulant use to compensate for reduced stimulant intoxication while taking methadone. Finally, participants described the desire to achieve intoxication on stimulants once stable on methadone, as their substance use treatment goals did not involve drug abstinence. DISCUSSION AND
conclusionAmong a street-involved drug-using population in which people do not have abstinence-based treatment goals, there are several functional reasons to use stimulants concurrently while on methadone. A deeper and more nuanced understanding of substance use motivators may contribute to further research and inform policy and guideline changes that support low threshold and harm reduction-focused methadone treatment programs and other interventions to reduce drug-related harms.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.