Conclusions
Although there are clearly many significant gaps in the literature,
the results of this review of studies of drug dependent people suggest
that there are dynamic changes in dependence. Almost one quarter of
persons dependent on amphetamine, one in five dependent on
cocaine, 15% of those dependent on heroin and one in ten of those
dependent on cannabis may remit from active drug dependence in a
year. Larger better reported cohort studies of dependent drug users
are needed to improve upon these estimates.
Role of Funding Sources
Some financial support was provided by the National Drug and Alcohol Research
Centre (NDARC), which receives funding from the Australian Government Department
of Health and Ageing. Louisa Degenhardt is the recipient of an NHMRC Senior Research
Fellowship, and Wayne Hall, an NHMRC Australia Fellowship. Funders had no role in
decision to conduct the review, writing of manuscript or decision to submit the paper
for publication.
Contributors
Literature searches were conducted and overseen by JM. Data extraction was done
by BiC, CB, BrC and UM. LD reviewed extracted data. BiC drafted the manuscript and all
authors contributed to and have approved the final manuscript.