Methadone maintenance - Does dose determine differences in outcome?

We conducted a naturalistic study to determine if higher methadone doses we re more effective than lower doses in the outcome variables of illicit drug use, treatment retention, missed medication days, and ratings of patient p rogress by assigned counselor among 265 patients in a Department of Veteran s Affairs Methadone Maintenance Treatment Program. Results indicated no sig nificant differences on any outcome variable by methadone dose. However, we found a significant effect by assigned therapist. Some therapists achieved better outcome results on these same variables compared to other assigned therapists independent of dose level. We conclude that, while methadone mai ntenance dose is an important variable, researchers need to pay more attent ion to the interpersonal aspects of methadone maintenance treatment (C) 199 9 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.