67th Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND)
ONLINE Side Event: Injectable Opioid Agonist Therapy (OAT) with Hydromorphone in Austria – a new perspective?
Wednesday, 20th March 2024, 9:00 – 9:50 CET
Welcome: Ana Radulescu, President IFSW Europe
Introduction: Silvia Franke, obds/IFSW Europe
Speaker: Hans Haltmayer, MD, former medical director Suchthilfe Wien
Discussion & Moderation: Silvia Franke and Herbert Paulischin, obds/IFSW Europe
For some clients oral opioid treatment does not work sufficiently enough because of side effects or sustained craving. So alongside to their oral opioid agonist therapy (OAT), they keep consuming i.v. street opioids with risk of lethal overdosing, blood borne infections, criminality etc. Last but not least reintegration into work life is very difficult under these circumstances.
Studies have demonstrated that supervised injectable (i.v.) OAT leads to a decrease in non-medical intravenous drug use (Krause et al., 2017) and drug-related criminality. Consequently, improvements in social functioning (Banerjee/Wright, 2020), health, and quality of life have been observed. Canada’s SALOME Study (Oviedo-Joekes et al., 2016) showed that intravenous hydromorphone (an opioid pain medication 7.5 times more potent than morphine) is equally effective as heroin.
Inspired by these findings, a feasibility study was conducted by Hans Haltmayer (MD) at Vienna day & night care center “Jedmayer” to explore supervised self-administered intravenous hydromorphone as alternative to oral treatment. Preliminary results are promising: iv OAT with hydromorphone has proven to be effective and safe, reducing non-medical injections, furthermore high retention rates have enabled social workers to address existing social and psychological issues effectively. The study represents the initial step towards implementing iv OAT in Austria and might help to further promote this service which is also an important opportunity for social work to reach clients.
Side event organized by: IFSW Europe in cooperation with obds – Austrian Association of Social Work
Co-sponsors:
