Medication-Assisted Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder

The Pew Charitable Trusts published a video overview on medication-assisted therapy for opioid use disorder. The clip is less than 2 minutes (shown below), and offers a quick summary of the medications often used in treating opioid addiction. Opioid use disorder is highlighted as a complex brain disease. Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) combines medication + behavioral
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WXII News 12 Focus On Addiction

WXII News 12 has launched a new effort to combat drugs in the Triad via media reports and analysis on the pervasive, local opioid drug problem. The initiative is called the “State of Addiction”, and it will explore the origins of the escalating drug addiction problem, drug treatment, government intervention to resolve the addiction crisis,
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Advocates For Opioid Recovery

Advocates For Opioid Recovery is a non-profit organization spearheaded by Newt Gingrich, Patrick Kennedy, and Van Jones. The group is dedicated to advancing evidence-based treatment to better address the effects of America’s opioid addiction dilemma. A main focus of the organization is breaking down regulatory barriers that exist in patient access to recovery medications like
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Recovering From Heroin Addiction

Opioid addiction is a particularly difficult addictive disorder to deal with because it creates not only a strong psychological dependency, but also a powerful physical dependency. The progression of opioid addiction is rapid for most people because of the euphoric effects (stimulation of the brain’s pleasure/reward center) and increased tolerance to the drug. Increased tolerance
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Probuphine for Opioid Addiction

Probuphine is a new drug recently developed and released by Braeburn Pharmaceuticals. The drug is FDA-approved and is a time-released version of buprenorphine (the active ingredient in Suboxone that staves off opioid withdrawal symtoms). Probuphine must be implanted beneath the patient’s skin (typically in the arm) where it gradually distributes medication for 6 months. The
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Thinking About The Meaning of Recovery

The word Recovery is a powerful symbol of hope for people who deal with addiction. Before alcohol and drug addiction were so readily addressed in society, the medical community used recovery as a reference to that period of time when a person was recuperating from a surgery or extended illness. So-and-so has had a full
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Public Perception of Methadone

Methadone is the prescribed medication which ADS uses to assist opioid-addicted people in their effort to become free of heroin and other deadly opiates. Methadone has been proven a highly effective treatment intervention for individuals struggling with daily opioid withdrawal. Methadone is FDA-approved and is presently being prescribed to many thousands of opioid-addicted people throughout
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Alberta Canada Sees Increase in Utilization of Methadone

The Metronews of Canada recently published an article outlining a recent increase in the utilization of methadone to treat opioid addiction. The Alberta Canada Health agency shared statistics showing that approximately twice as many people began opioid replacement therapy with methadone during the fiscal year 2012 – 2013. The number of patients receiving methadone rose
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Beginning Buprenorphine in the Emergency Room

There is an interesting blog post by Dr. Jana Burson in which she discusses a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). The study occurred in the state of Connecticut, and it centered on providing patients a 3-day supply of buprenorphine when they presented in the ER and were found to
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