Table 1 Items in the Abstinence Orientation, Disapproval of Drug Use, and Knowledge of MMT scales

1) Methadone maintenance patients who continue to use illicit opiates should have their dose of methadone reduced.

1) Marijuana should be legalized.

1) Methadone, in a stable dose as partof a maintenance regime, blocks the euphoric effects of heroin and prescription opioids.

2) Maintenance patients who ignore repeated warning to stop using illicit opiates should be gradually withdrawn off methadone.

2) Modern society is too tolerant toward drug addicts.

2) Withdrawing from methadone ‘cold turkey’ is definitely worse than withdrawing from heroin.

3) No limits should be set on the duration of methadone maintenance.

3) Drug addiction is a vice.

3) Methadone maintenance can cause chronic constipation.

4) Methadone should be gradually withdrawn once a maintenance patient has ceased using illicit opiates.

4) Marijuana use among teenagers can be healthy experimentation.

4) Methadone Maintenance can cause disturbance of sexual function.

5) Methadone services should be expanded so that all narcotic addicts who want methadone maintenance can receive it.

5) Drug addiction is a menace to society.

5) Methadone maintenance can cause kidney damage.

6) Methadone maintenance patients whocontinue to abuse non-opioid drugs (e.g. benzodiazepines) should have their dose of methadone reduced.

6) Persons convicted of the sale of illicit drugs should not be eligible for parole.

6) Methadone maintenance can cause liver damage.

7) Abstinence from all opioids (including methadone) should be the principal goal of methadone maintenance.

7) To the unborn child, methadone is more dangerous than heroin.

8) Left to themselves, most methadone patients would stay on methadone for life.

8) Methadone given in a stable dose aspart of a maintenance regime significantly interferes with the ability to dive a car.

9) Maintenance patients should only be given enough methadone to prevent the onset of withdrawals.

9) Methadone maintenance reduces addicts’ criminal activities.

10) It is unethical to maintain addicts on methadone indefinitely.

10) Methadone maintenance decreases addicts’ risk of dying.

11) The clinician’s principal role is to prepare methadone maintenance patients for drug-free living.

11) Methadone maintenance reduces addicts’ consumption of illicit opiates.

12) It is unethical to deny a narcotic addict methadone maintenance.

12) Methadone maintenance increases the severity of preexisting depression.

13) Confrontation is necessary in the treatment of drug addicts.

13) Methadone maintenance reduces the risk of transmission blood borne diseases.

14) The clinician should encourage patients to remain in methadone maintenance for at least three to four years.