Generic buprenorphine could increase illicit use of drug

Subutex currently most frequent intravenously used drug in Helsinki region

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A survey of intravenous drug users in the Helsinki area has found that buprenorphine, which is sometimes used for helping heroin users shake off their addiction, is currently the most frequently-used IV drug in the region, and all of Finland.
      According to the study by the National Public Health Institute, 70 percent of IV drug users surveyed in the Helsinki area said that their primary drug of choice is buprenorphine. Five years ago a study by the National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health (STAKES) revealed that amphetamine was the preferred IV drug.
      There are fears that illicit use of buprenorphine will increase further. In the summer the patent for buprenorphine, which is most commonly sold under the brand names Subutex and Temgesic, expired, allowing cheaper generic versions onto the market.
      Hannu Alho head physician at the National Public Health Institute, expects that that more of the drug will appear on the illicit market.
     
When prescribed as a substitute for heroin, Subutex and Temgesic are taken sublingually in pill form. However, the price is high on the illegal market, and users make the pills go further by crushing, dissolving, and injecting the drug.
      Legal access to buprenorphine has been very restricted in Finland, and addicts have travelled to the Baltic States to get prescriptions. Latvia and Estonia recently clamped down on buprenorphine prescriptions for foreigners, forcing Finns who need it to travel to France where prescriptions are still available.
      Hannu Alho wants Finland and France to reach the same kind of agreement that Finland has with Estonia and Latvia, where buprenorphine is now prescribed only to those Finns who are undergoing opiate withdrawal treatment in those countries.
     
Buprenorphine abuse is a typically Finnish phenomenon. New Zealand is the only other country where the problem has reached similar proportions.
     
Buprenorphine is relatively safe when used on its own. However, when combined with alcohol or certain other drugs it can be deadly.
      Buprenorphine is currently the most frequently detected drug in post-mortems, replacing heroin, which held the top spot in 2000.
     
The National Public Health Institute survey was conducted in the spring of 2005. During two weeks, about 600 customers of needle exchange centres were asked to fill in a questionnaire. About one in three agreed to take part in the anonymous and voluntary survey.
      "We repeated the study this spring. The results have not yet been analysed, but it appears that the situation has not changed very much", Alho says.
      Finland has an estimated 16,000 - 21,000 intravenous drug users, 30 - 40 per cent of whom live in the Helsinki region.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Use of drugs leads to fines more easily than before (23.3.2006)

Helsingin Sanomat