A naturalistic study on ending blind dosing in a methadone maintenance clinic in Israel

Since many methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) clinics in the United Stat es do not share with patients, information concerning their methadone dosag e, we aimed to investigate the impact of patients being informed of their m ethadone dosage and the influence of ending blind dosing on treatment outco me. Seventy-four patients who were unaware of their methadone dosage took p art in this study. We compared changes in opiate abuse, levels of methadone dosage and patients' perceptions of dosage adequacy before and after they were informed of their dosage. Data on opiate abuse were based upon bi-week ly randomly taken and observed urine tests provided the data on opiate abus e. Records on methadone dosage were kept and a short questionnaire on dosag e-related attitudes, devised for this study, was administered. Most patient s expressed the desire to know their dosage, but there were no significant changes in opiate abuse, methadone dosage or the patients' perceptions of d osage adequacy after they knew what it was. We conclude that informing pati ents of their methadone dosage and thereby ending blind dosing does not see m to have any negative effect on treatment outcomes. We believe that this p olicy is in accord with the patients' rights and expressed will to know the ir dosage and this justifies putting an end to blind dosing policies. (C) 2 001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.