The treatment with L-aspartic acid of persons addicted to opiates.

Two clients addicted to codeine, two to heroin and four to opium tincture were orally administered 2 g L-aspartic acid four times daily for up to five days on an out-patient basis. The clients were withdrawn from the drugs on which they were physically dependent by gradually decreasing the amount of the drug abused. Some mild abstinence signs and symptoms were observed during the treatment, while the clients showed a marked improvement in social contacts and behaviour. At the end of the treatment period, and during the subsequent two weeks, not one of the treated persons showed any sign of the abstinence syndrome or expressed a feeling of need for the compulsive intake of the drug which had been abused.