

Even though methadone is an effective tool to fight heroin addiction, it is rarely used in prisons. Researchers have found that giving inmates the controversial heroin-replacement pill along with psychological therapy makes them far less likely to spike up when they return to society.

Timothy Kinlock, the leader of the study, supervised the recruitment of over 211 volunteers from a pre-release facility. Each had served over a year of hard time and were within six months of freedom. He divided them into three categories. All of them received counseling. Some were also offered methadone, and the rest got a referral for methadone therapy upon their release. One month after the prisoners were set free, the researchers collected samples of their urine for drug testing and gave them a survey.

The results of the study, which appear in the December issue of Drug and Alcohol Dependence, are quite compelling. Not only did the methadone keep many of the ex-cons from picking up their old habits, but also it made them over eight times as likely to seek drug abuse treatment.

According to the report, this was the first formal clinical trial of methadone therapy in an American prison, but the heroin-substitute has been used successfully for years at New York City jail. Kinlock and his colleagues at the Friends Research Institute plan to follow up with the former prisoners over the coming year to assess whether the drug has lasting benefits.