Hickman M, et al. - The authors aimed at estimating if opioid substitution treatment (OST) with buprenorphine or methadone is associated with a greater reduction in the risk of all-cause mortality (ACM) and opioid drug-related poisoning (DRP) mortality. They identified a lower risk of all-cause and drug-related poisoning mortality in association with opioid substitution treatment with buprenorphine than methadone in UK general medical practice. Because of the relatively shorter duration of treatment, buprenorphine is unlikely to give greater overall protection in the population.