It is acknowledged that short-term methadone treatment are appropriate only in certain very particular cases. Daily administration of methadone is not compulsory, but recommended at the beginning of treatment and will generally take place in a pharmacy chosen by the patient. The physician is free to prescribe larger quantities of methadone at less frequent intervals, depending on how the patient evolves. The number of heroin addicts undergoing methadone treatment is increasing and now reaches 5.000, out of an estimated total number of heroin users of 20.000 to 30.000. Hundred of general practitioners are currently involved in methadone treatment.
Most patients receive enough methadone for one or two weeks.
The presence of methadone on the black market has decreased, as has the number of addicts seeking methadone on the streets. No increase of overdoses has been noted and criminality isdecreasing. Thus the very flexible method of prescribing methadone used today in Belgium seems to have resolved some problems and does not seem to have created any. In spite of the positive results described here above, the Belgian government is considering a revision of the Narcotic law. This would imply a reduction of the availability of methadone treatment.