CANNABIS AND AMPHETAMINE USE IN PATIENTS ON BUPRENORPHINE MAINTENANCE TREATMENT

Abstract

Polydrug abuse is a known problem among patients on opioid maintenance treatment. Objective is to assess the profile of patients on buprenorphine substitution treatment who use cannabis, amphetamine or cannabis and amphetamine in parallel. This study was conducted in 2021 year at University Clinic for toxicology, Skopje and has a prospective cohort design that included 112 patients with opioid use disorder on buprenorphine maintenance treatment. The data were collected according to a previously designed self-administered questionnaire adapted according to the “treatment demand indicator”. The following variables were analyzed: gender, age, duration of opioid use disorder, route of administration, duration of buprenorphine treatment, buprenorphine dose, cannabis and amphetamine use. The majority of patients were male (88.4%). The mean age of patients was 38.7±4.3 years. The average duration of opioid use disorder was 16.8±6.8 years; the duration of buprenorphine treatment was 6.3±3.3 years; buprenorphine dose was 12.5±4.9mg. Parallel use of buprenorphine with cannabis was declared in 43.7% of the patients and they were significantly younger compared to others (p=0.014). A combination of buprenorphine with amphetamine was used in 14.3% with significantly younger ages compared to others (p=0.003). Buprenorphine with both cannabis and amphetamine was practiced in 15.2% of the patients. No significant correlation was found between other variables of the studied group and the parallel use of cannabis and amphetamine. Almost half of the patients on buprenorphine substitution treatment reported parallel use of cannabis. The patients who declared parallel use of cannabis and amphetamines were of younger age compared to others.