**4.3. Toxicological analysis**

**Figure 4.** Proportion of the patients according to the duration of the consumption, previous to MMT.

patients). The other patients have used it differently: smoking or nose sniffing.

ent hallucinogens (ex. L.S.D., ketamine) have occasionally been reported.

*4.1.6. Indicator: way of administration of the heroin*

126 Drug Addiction

relatively short length of time, up to 1 year.

high intensity of drug consumption.

cocaine or designer amphetamines with a hallucinogen component (ex. Ecstasy). Other differ-

The most frequent way of the heroin administration is the i.v. (all the patients have declared the intravenous use of the heroin, in most cases, even at the onset use of the heroin (78% of the

The study shows that most of the patients had previous hospitalizations (70.7%, 58/82), an average number of 8.31 periods and previous periods of MMT (48.78%, 40/82 patients), an average number of 5.45 treatments, previous to the presented study. Also, 40.24% of the patients (33/82) have benefited from psychological counseling, an average of 9.48 meetings. Referring to the abstinence length, only a little percentage (24.4%, 20/82) had abstinence on

These results show that, among the confirmed drugaddicts, the opiates consumers present the most invalidating, with the longest duration and frequency of drug consumption, with a lower compliance to treatment and high resistance as regards the initiation and the maintenance of the abstinence. These present a high frequency of relapses as well as long term and

#### *4.3.1. Indicator: the urine concentration of heroin and metabolites*

The methodology of the quantitative and qualitative toxicological analysis provides with a support, useful in order to analytically diagnose of the drug abuse and to initiate and supervise the substitution treatment.

In the present study, the quantitative toxicological analysis aimed at determining the levels of the heroin and the metabolites in the urine of the heroin consumers, applying the technique of the fluorescent antibody, and using an automatic analyzer. The heroin and metabolite levels in their urine tests have been placed to a large extent, from approximately 700 to over 30,000 ng/mL (**Figure 5**).

During the treatment, not only the initial one, they do tests (which are marked as follows: negative, slightly positive, positive), no matter the patients' declarations. At the assumption or the declaration of relapses, tests grow in number, especially when we speak about the combinations of opiates and heroin or other medicines. The maximum number of tests along a whole year for a single patient has been 27.
