Dangers of overdose after coming out of drug‐free rehab

It has been known for years that people formerly dependent on opioids who have been abstinent for a few weeks after inpatient treatment are at increased risk for overdose during that period. This was first proven in studies of people who had been incarcerated, and therefore abstinent. The seminal article on deaths after release from incarceration was published by Ingrid A. Binswanger and colleagues in The New England Journal of Medicine in 2007; at that time, drug overdoses — about half from cocaine and half from opioids — were the leading cause of death after release from incarceration (http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa064115).
Source: The Brown University Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology Update - Category: Psychiatry Tags: Substance Use Disorders Source Type: research