Heroin detoxification with acupuncture and electrical stimulation.

Acupuncture with electrical stimulation is a feasible nonchemical method for detoxification of heroin addicts, with particular limitations as regards to heavy users. Short-term follow-up seems to indicate reversion to heroin is comparable to other detoxification methods. It could be of great interest to study the effect of easily available postdetoxification maintenance acupuncture as an alternative to heroin. Withdrawal symptoms are relieved in a hierarchial manner with apparent parasympathetically mediated symptoms subsiding first, and frequently with incomplete resolution of bone and joint pain.