Loading...
Ongoing cocaine dependence can compromise heroin-assisted treatment for patients with methadone-refractory heroin dependence. In a multicenter trial from the Netherlands, researchers randomly assigned 73 cocaine-dependent patients who were getting daily heroin- and methadone-assisted treatment to receive sustained-release oral dextroamphetamine (dexamphetamine; 60 mg/day) or placebo for 12 weeks. Twice-weekly urine samples were collected during the final 4 weeks. Sixty-five participants (89%) completed the study.
Dextroamphetamine recipients had fewer days of self-reported cocaine use (mean, 45 vs. 61), a higher longest period of consecutive cocaine abstinence (mean, 18 vs. 7 days), and a higher proportion of cocaine-negative urine samples (…