Recent proposals to license doctors who treat drug users with controlled drugs other than oral methadone mixture, will deter doctors from working in this area. THis was excatle why a similar licensing proposal was rejected in 1984. Alternatives to licensing…
Tag Archive for prescribing
Druglink article 2013 – A Tripp down memory lane by Harry Shapiro
The prescribing habits of a handful of London doctors led to what some have described as the beginning of the end for the ‘British System’. A Tripp down memory lane (PDF)
Druglink Findings 2013 – Costs of failure to offer maintenance prescribing in prisons
An international team of experts led by Dagmar Hedrich of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction has argued that failure to implement effective opioid maintenance in prisons represents an important and possibly costly missed opportunity to engage high-risk drug users in treatment. Costs of failure…
Druglink article 1999 – Doctors with attitude: More GPs do care by Chris Ford and Iain Ryrie
An assumption has developed that most GPs resist caring for problem drug users, but this negative view, generated by specialists, media and the GPs themselves, goes against the evidence. Doctors with attitude: More GPs do care (PDF)
Druglink news item 1999 – New ‘Orange’ guidelines: care or control?
GPs routinely involved in the care of drug users have given a qualified welcome to the newly-revised DoH guidelines on the clinical management of drug dependency. New ‘Orange’ guidelines: care or control? (PDF)
Druglink article 1999 – Lofexidine: some questions answered by Jacqueline Akhurst
Lofexidine as a detox drug was first trialled in the early 1980s. But at the end of this decade the US manufacturer thought the drug had no future and withdrew it. Since then, and with a new manufacturer, support for…
Druglink article 2014 – 1986: The battle for the right to prescribe – Doctors at war by Mike Ashton
Through the 1970s, consultant psychiatrists in the NHS drug clinics had been moving away from prescribing any injectable drug to oral methadone – and also on a reducing dose basis. But there were still doctors in the community (both private…
Druglink news item 1998 – Orange book signals sweeping changes
If a doctor needs a license to prescribe any drug other than methadone mixture, there will be considerable pressure not to prescribe any other drug. Orange book signals sweeping changes (PDF)
Druglink article 1998 – Control through evidence: the double-edged sword by Tom Waller
With licensing on the cards for GPs who prescribe substitute drugs, the research base for those prescribing decisions must be urgently reconsidered. When we insist on only accepting evidence-based medicine are we simply cutting ourselves off from better alternatives? Control…
Druglink article 1997 – Substitute prescribing – Social policy or individual treatment? and why we must make the decision by Duncan Raistrick
The Lewisham Citizen’s Jury concluded that methadone was more dangerous than heroin. If the educated public think this, can substitute prescribing have much of a future? Substitute prescribing – Social policy or individual treatment? (PDF) Additional keywords: heroin maintenance /…