British Opiate Users: II. Differences between Those Given an Opiate Script and Those Not Given One

The interview data from some of the people approaching London drug clinics during the 1-year period beginning mid-November 1970 were used to compare two groups of subjects: those who were given a regular opiate script (113 people) and those who were not (61 people who, for the most part, did not produce an opiate-positive urine at the time). People who were given such a script were likely to have been using more illicit heroin or methadone (than were people not given an opiate script), and the script given was usually a small quantity of methadone. Significantly higher rates of unemployment, illegal activities, and physical complications were demonstrated in the group who were not given a regular opiate script; further differences between the Script Group and the No-Script Group are also described.