@article{ref1,
title="Associations between methadone maintenance treatment and crime: a 17-year longitudinal cohort study of Canadian provincial offenders",
journal="Addiction",
year="2018",
author="Russolillo, Angela and Moniruzzaman, Akm and McCandless, Lawrence C. and Patterson, Michelle and Somers, Julian M.",
volume="113",
number="4",
pages="656-667",
abstract="AIMS: To estimate and test the difference in rates of violent and non-violent crime during medicated and non-medicated methadone treatment episodes. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: The study involved linkage of population level administrative data (health and justice) for all individuals (n=14,530) in British Columbia, Canada with a history of conviction and who filled a methadone prescription between January 1, 1998 and March 31, 2015. Methadone maintenance treatment was the primary independent variable and was treated as a time-varying exposure. Each participant's follow-up (mean: 8 years) was divided into medicated (methadone was dispensed) and non-medicated (methadone was not dispensed) periods with mean durations of 3.3 and 4.6 years respectively. MEASUREMENTS: Socio-demographics of participants were examined along with the main outcomes of violent and non-violent offences. <br><br>FINDINGS: During the first two years of treatment (≤2.0 years), periods in which methadone was dispensed were associated with a 33% lower rate of violent crime [0.67 adjusted hazard ratio (AHR), 95% confidence intervals (CI) (0.59, 0.76)] and a 35% lower rate of non-violent crime [0.65 AHR 95% CI (0.62, 0.69) compared with non-medicated periods. This equates to a risk difference of 3.6 [95% CI (2.6, 4.4)] and 37.2 [95% CI (33.0, 40.4)] fewer violent and non-violent offences per 100 person years, respectively. Significant but smaller protective effects of dispensed methadone were observed across longer treatment intervals (2.0 to ≤ 5.0 years, 5.0 to ≤10.0 years). <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Among a cohort of Canadian offenders, rates of violent and non-violent offending were lower during periods when individuals were dispensed methadone compared with periods in which they were not dispensed methadone.<br><br>This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0965-2140",
doi="10.1111/add.14059",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/add.14059"
}