Physicians and intravenous drug users: attitudes and opinions in the Canton of Vaud, Switzerland.

A postal questionnaire was used to survey the attitudes of practising physicians in the Swiss Canton of Vaud (population 570,000) toward intravenous drug (IVD) users and to study the possibility of recruiting more such physicians for treatment of these patients. The study population included all general practitioners, internal medicine specialists, and psychiatrists in private practice in the canton (n = 776). The response rate was 50%. Results indicate that it would be possible to significantly increase (40 to 100%) the number of practising physicians now treating IVD users.