Grant: Doctoral Award - Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships

Harms related to the use of opioids (heroin, morphine, fentanyl, etc.) such as AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome), hepatitis C and overdose have caused major public health consequences to date. However compared to its burden, range of treatments for opioid use disorder (OUD) depending on the country is often narrow. Opium tincture (OT) is a preparation of opium (herbal extract of opium poppy) with water and alcohol. In recent years, there has been a growing effort in treating OUD with OT in Asia and especially Iran due to cultural acceptability, its availability, and low cost. Because of lacking clinical research, it is not tested whether OT is effective and safe for this indication. Therefore, we started to conduct a clinical trial (RCT) to test whether OT is as effective as methadone for treating OUD in terms of keeping patients in treatment. Clinical trials are the standard ways to test if treatments work for certain health conditions. The study is an international collaboration between the University of British Columbia, Canada and Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran. Study will recruit 240 participants in 3 outpatient clinics and follows them for 12 weeks. If effective, OT will increase the range of available treatments OUD. Increased range of treatments can play an important role in addressing the current overdose crisis in Canada and preventing future similar crises in Canada and other parts of the world. In addition, successful execution of this project will improve the quality of addiction research in Iran which has a unique profile of OUD (highest frequency of OUD and opioid seizures globally, opium being the most commonly used illicit drug, contamination of opioids with lead and a very dangerous form of opioids unique to this region called crack heroin). Improved research infrastructure in this region will eventually improve the quality of care for patients with this condition in Canada and around the world.