Methadone Maintenance for Prisoners (MMP)

Friends Research Institute

Status and phase: Completed; Phase 3

Conditions: Heroin Addiction

Treatments: Drug: Counseling + Transfer; Drug: Counseling + Methadone; Other: Counseling Only

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT00378079

1R01DA016237-03

R01DA016237 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Details and patient eligibility

About

This five-year study examines the benefits of methadone maintenance treatment initiated in prison and continued in the community to male offenders who were previously, but not currently, heroin-dependent. It is anticipated that such prisoners will have more favorable outcomes in the year following release with regard to drug abuse, crime, and HIV risk behavior than either prisoners who receive counseling only or begin initiation of methadone maintenance in the community

Full description

Most prisoners with histories of pre-incarceration heroin addiction do not receive treatment while incarcerated or upon release. Effective treatment for such prisoners is urgently needed because rapid relapse typically follows release. Relapse is associated with increased risk for HIV, overdose death, criminal activity, and reincarceration. Other than three studies of methadone maintenance with short-term jail inmates, the only study of longer-term inmates who were previously, but not currently, heroin-dependent was the investigator's pilot study with pre-release inmates. Based on that pilot study, which found that initiating maintenance treatment is feasible and facilitates post-release treatment entry, the present study provides a more rigorous examination of this unique treatment approach.

Enrollment: 211 patients

Sex: Male

Ages: 18 to 65 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Heroin dependence in the year prior to current incarceration
• 3-6 months left to serve in prison-male pre-release inmate suitability for methadone maintenance as determined by medical evaluation
• Willingness to enroll in methadone maintenance
• Having a Baltimore address

Exclusion criteria

• Pending parole hearing
• Pending charges
• Kidney failure
• Liver failure

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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211 participants in 3 patient groups

3

Experimental group

Treatment:

Drug: Counseling + Methadone

1

Active Comparator group

Treatment:

Other: Counseling Only

2

Experimental group

Treatment:

Drug: Counseling + Transfer