Opioid Substitution Treatment in Sweden, 2012

"A vast number of controlled studies show that medication assisted treatment for opioid dependence (e.g. with methadone and buprenorphine) are efficacious in order to 1) prevent drug related deaths⁶; 2) reduce drug consumption; 3) increase quality of life for injecting drug users (Connock M, 2007). According to National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen, 2012), medication assisted treatment is available at 114 treatment units in Sweden. It is also estimated that the availability of such treatment is satisfactory in about half of the 21 counties.
"In 2011, approximately 5200 individuals was estimated to have been participating in opioid maintenance treatment (Socialstyrelsen, 2012), and the total number of individuals with opiate dependence diagnosis was estimated to about 7200⁷, which gives an estimated coverage of about 73%.
"There is no precise estimation of the number of individuals taking part in drug-free treatments, although it is reasonable to assume that the frequency of this type of treatment has decreased over the last 10 years due to the expansion of maintenance treatment programmes."