Clinic attendance and opiate prescription status of heroin addicts over a six-year period

Abstract

Home Office records were used to trace the current status of a sample of 128 persons of whom heroin was prescribed in 1969 at Drug Dependence Clinics in London. In October 1975, after a mean time since self-reported first use of heroin of 11-25 years, 51 per cent were attending clinics, 40 per cent alive and not attending, and 9 per cent dead. One third of the sample were still receiving heroin on prescription, and 23 per cent appeared to have received heroin without interruption since 1969. The report points to the need for career studies of addicts' lives and the need for follow-up interviews, especially for the 40 per cent no longer attending clinics.