ArticleDrug and alcohol dependence reports2025
Opioid medication doses among safer supply clients: Current safer supply doses and previous OAT experience.
Article in Drug and alcohol dependence reports, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- "Safer supply is the thing that changes everything": the role of prescribed safer supply in rebuilding trust following experiences of medical abandonment.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Safe Supply at Insite, North America's First Supervised Consumption Site: A Case Report of Reduced Harms From the Toxic Drug Supply in a Client Prescribed Powdered Fentanyl Alternative.Drug and alcohol review · 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
- "From an HCV and HIV point of view, it's been remarkable": A qualitative study about using prescribed safer supply to support people who use drugs along the HIV and HCV prevention and treatment cascades in Ontario, Canada.Journal of the International AIDS Society · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Introduction: Safer opioid supply (SOS) is a harm reduction approach to prescribing pharmaceutical opioids to people at high risk of overdose from the toxic unregulated drug supply. Previous research demonstrates positive health outcomes and reductions in overdose mortality among SOS clients; however few reports describe previous opioid agonist treatment history prior to initiating SOS, or the medication combinations and doses prescribed within SOS programs. Methods: We used convenience sampling to collect survey data from 95 SOS program clients in London, Canada. We use descriptive statistics to analyze survey data and report on OAT history prior to initiating SOS, including maximum methadone dose. We also report on current SOS medication combinations and doses. Findings: Previous experience with OAT was common and reported by 87 % of SOS clients. Mean highest dose of methadone ever received was 95 mg (range: 20-200 mg), with close to 40 % reporting doses of ≥ 120 mg. 95 % of SOS clients reported prescriptions for immediate-release tablet hydromorphone; 28 % were receiving hydromorphone monotherapy; 68 % were receiving hydromorphone alongside a long-acting opioid, and 5 % receiving hydromorphone alongside 2 long-acting opioids. Total average milligram morphine equivalent (MME) doses of combination SOS prescriptions (MME 1616) were similar to high dose methadone (120 mg = MME 1440). Conclusions: Previous high dose OAT experience was common among SOS clients prior to enrollment in the SOS program. Our results may inform the individualization of high dose opioid prescriptions for people with high tolerance due to exposure to unregulated fentanyl.
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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.