Temgesic: lättlurade läkare, narrande narkomaner¹

Dual-track drug policy: Normalization of the drug problem in Finland

“…No new clients had been admitted to the treatment programme for years, and consequently attitudes as well as the official line were strongly opposed to substitution treatment. In 1990, the media publicized extensively the case of a private doctor in Helsinki who had started substitution treatment using Temgesic (a buprenorphine), which rapidly brought him dozens of clients with drug addiction (Hakkarainen & Hoikkala, 1992). In the aftermath of a muddled chain of events, two working groups (Narkomaanien hoidon järjestäminen Helsingissä, 1991; Opioidiriippuvaisten narkomaanien lääkehoitotyö ryhmän muistio, 1993) took a cautiously positive stand on launching substitution treatments, but nothing happened until the end of the decade.…”

Opioid pharmacotherapy: Treatment, regimes, constructions and control

“…Both disputes contested the prevailing prescription practice and made the general public aware of a new substitute drug, buprenorphine, marketed as Temgesic and subsequently Subutex. The first case took place in the early 1990s (Hakkarainen & Hoikkala, 1992) and the second one ran from 1997 to 2003 (Hakkarainen & Tigerstedt, 2005).…”

“…Dozens of parents of the patients made public statements arguing in favor of the medical treatment of problem drug users (Hakkarainen & Hoikkala, 1992;Hakkarainen & Tigerstedt, 2005). Both disputes had an impact on the reversal of the Finnish drug treatment policy.…”

“…In Dispute 1, the field was dominated by two powerful parties: the drug police and the physicians (often representing national and local health authorities) (Hakkarainen & Hoikkala, 1992). The police were remarkably active, relying on a two-decade-long tradition in drug policy with firm roots in criminal justice and control policy.…”