The consensus panel strongly recommended expanding access to methadone treatment by eliminating excessive Federal and State regulations and increasing funding for methadone treatment. The conference, which was cosponsored by NIDA, along with the NIH Office of Medical Applications of Research and the NIH Office of Research on Women's Health, was held in Bethesda, Maryland, last November. Methadone is the medication used most frequently to treat heroin addiction. Outpatient methadone treatment programs administer methadone to reduce patients' cravings for heroin and block its effects, thereby enabling patients to lead productive lives.
Some patients stay on methadone indefinitely, while others move from methadone to abstinence.
NIH consensus conferences constitute a science forum where a panel of independent nongovernment experts examines the scientific evidence and makes recommendations on an area of medicine. During the course of the conference on treating heroin addiction, the consensus panel, chaired by Dr. Lewis L. Judd of the University of California at San Diego School of Medicine, focused on determining the effectiveness of methadone treatment. After conducting a thorough review of the accumulated data and listening to expert testimony and public debate on the issues, the panel stated unequivocally that addiction to opiate drugs such as heroin is a disease of the brain and a medical disorder that can be effectively treated. Methadone treatment significantly lowers illicit opiate drug use, reduces opiate-related illness and death, reduces crime, and enhances social productivity, the panel concluded. Despite methadone's effectiveness, less than 20 percent of the estimated 600,000 heroin addicts in the United States are being treated in methadone treatment programs, the panel noted.