The possibility of offering heroin to people with a continued illegal opioid use despite maintenance
treatment with methadone was made possible in Denmark in the spring 2008. I will give you just a
short sketch of the Danish heroin programme so you know what we are talking about, in case you
do not know already. This is not a full presentation (for this see…), but just to highlight some of the
dimensions in the programme that is important for clients and staff.
Heroin is a second line drug; client should have tried methadone maintenance treatment without
success before heroin can be offered. Client should have – despite the methadone – a continued
used of illegal opioid which should be administered by injection.
Clients should not have serious, untreated mental disorders. Clients should be over 18 years old and
pregnant women can not be part of the programme.
The heroin can only be administered by injection, that means no smoking, sniffing, eating, or via
the rectum. Clients should be able and willing to come to the clinic twice a day, to take the heroin
under supervision of a nurse and to administer the injection themselves, either intra venous or intra
muscular. The heroin can be given up to two times a day – morning and afternoon, and methadone
is given as a supplement for covering the client during the night.
The heroin treatment should be combined with appropriate psycho-social treatment.
Clients will need to go through a 10 to 14 days of supervised methadone treatment aiming at
adjusting the dose before being transferred to heroin.
My presentation today will fall into three parts. First I will present the status for the programme for
now, then in the second part I will present the research project. In the third part I will present a few
preliminary findings from the clinics. But – I will underline – very preliminary as clients have only
been enrolled since the 22
nd
of March – so approximately six weeks.
Until now twelve clients have started up in the clinic in the centre of Copenhagen, ten have started
in heroin, one of these has at the moment one month of quarantine from the clinic and is back on
methadone. The other clinic in Copenhagen, covering the periphery of the larger city has enrolled
five clients, four have started on heroin. One of these is at the moment back on methadone because
he had needed a little time off from the clinic, and the daily attendance.
Odense started up two weeks ago – seven clients are enrolled, four started heroin this Monday, three
more are scheduled to start next Monday.