Westermeyer J, Peng G
J Nerv Ment Dis. 1977 May;164(5):346-50. doi: 10.1097/00005053-197705000-00006.
Students of narcotic addiction have believed that heroin addiction is more debilitating than the "traditional" opium addiction. Access to both opium and heroin addicts in a Laotian treatment facility provided an opportunity to test this hypothesis. All subjects were volunteer narcotic addicts seeking treatment at an inpatient detoxification facility over a 12-month period. The research format consisted of five demographic characteristics, four aspects of past narcotic usage, and three aspects of current narcotic usage. Fifty-one heroin addicts were compared to 438 opium addicts. Many of the demographic differences in the two groups reflected the urban residence of most heroin addicts and the mixed urban-rural residence of opium addicts. Heroin addicts had more frequent daily doses of drug, spent considerably more money for their drug, and required higher initial methadone doses for detoxification. It also appeared that heroin addicts might have "deteriorated" faster and thus sought treatment earlier than opium addicts. Since the heroin and opium addicts in this study differed significantly on most demographic characteristics, it was difficult to know whether these observed differences were due to drug factors or demographic factors. Thus, a study of pairs matched for age, sex, and ethnicity was subsequently undertaken to test the hypotheses generated by this study.
研究麻醉品成瘾的学者们认为，海洛因成瘾比“传统的”鸦片成瘾更具危害性。在老挝一家治疗机构接触到鸦片成瘾者和海洛因成瘾者，为验证这一假设提供了机会。所有受试者均为在12个月期间内到住院戒毒机构寻求治疗的自愿麻醉品成瘾者。研究形式包括五个人口统计学特征、过去麻醉品使用的四个方面以及当前麻醉品使用的三个方面。将51名海洛因成瘾者与438名鸦片成瘾者进行了比较。两组在人口统计学上的许多差异反映出，大多数海洛因成瘾者居住在城市，而鸦片成瘾者则城乡混合居住。海洛因成瘾者每日用药剂量更频繁，购买毒品花费的钱要多得多，戒毒时所需的美沙酮初始剂量也更高。似乎海洛因成瘾者“恶化”得更快，因此比鸦片成瘾者更早寻求治疗。由于本研究中的海洛因成瘾者和鸦片成瘾者在大多数人口统计学特征上存在显著差异，很难确定观察到的这些差异是由毒品因素还是人口统计学因素导致的。因此，随后开展了一项针对年龄、性别和种族匹配的配对研究，以检验本研究提出的假设。
