Engelsk titel: The breakthrough of the Finnish substitution treatment
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Författare:
Hakkarainen P
;
Tigerstedt C
Email: pekka.hakkarainen@stakes.fi
Språk: Swe
Antal referenser: 58
Dokumenttyp:
Artikel
UI-nummer: 05113690
Sammanfattning
AIMS: Official records indicate that in 1996 no
more than fi ve drug addicts in Finland
received medically assisted treatment.
By 2004 that fi gure had grown to 600-
700 persons. This article retraces the
path to this crucial change.
DESIGN: Several factors of this change are
scrutinised. In the latter part of the
1990s, Finland saw a signifi cant
increase in drug-related harms,
resulting in a gradual revision of drug
policies. Medically assisted treatment
was brought under the spotlight through
serious public controversies, centred
on two private doctors prescribing
buprenorphine for their heroin-using
patients. Claims-makers, representing
a variety of agencies, stood up for
substitution treatment. International
trends in substitution treatment, as well
as scientifi c research, facilitated the
advocacy of such treatment.
RESULTS: The drug user has been redefi ned in
terms of private and public health, and
civil rights, engendering a more liberal
attitude towards substitution treatment.
National drug policy is characterised by
a joint move: social and health policy
initiatives, on the one hand, and criminal
policy, on the other, are running on
separate tracks, making it possible to
increase control powers and to expand treatment services.
CONCLUSIONS: Several questions are still
unresolved. For example,
there has been very little
debate on the widely known
problem of buprenorphine
abuse.