On-site drugs of abuse urinary screening tests for the management of opiate-addicted patients: a survey among French general practitioners.

In France, opiate-addicted patients are mainly managed by general practitioners (GPs). Because on-site abuse drugs urinary screening tests (ODUTs) are now on the market, we investigated French GPs' knowledge and practices concerning drug tests with a focus on ODUTs. We conducted a descriptive cross-sectional study in ambulatory practice. Postal questionnaires were sent to a random sample of GPs in the Midi-Pyrénées area of France in December 2009. Of the 482 GPs in the sample, 116 (24.1%) regularly treated opiate- addicted patients. Only 31 of them (26.7%) used drug tests and 4 of them (3.4%) performed ODUTs in their consultation rooms. Most of the GPs did not perform ODUTs because they were unaware of whether such tests were reliable or available. Many French GPs treating opiate-addicted patients regularly did not perform ODUTs and lacked knowledge of them.