Journal of substance abuse treatment
-
J Subst Abuse Treat · Mar 2006
Slow tapering from methadone maintenance in a program encouraging indefinite maintenance.
Longitudinal studies have indicated that most opioid agonist-using patients are not able to successfully complete tapering attempts. Little is known, however, about tapering within a treatment environment that is supportive of indefinite agonist treatment and medication tapering. In this study, all records of patients beginning a slow methadone taper were reviewed (N = 30). ⋯ Patients attempting tapers should be informed about the difficulty involved and be monitored closely for signs of instability. For a few patients, a taper to a lower methadone dose and a switch to buprenorphine/naloxone are obtainable. Program policies that support both tapering attempts and indefinite maintenance are described in this article.