People who are dependent on opioids and are being treated with buprenorphine do not receive additional benefit from cognitive behavioral therapy, a new study finds.
The opioid-overdose antidote naloxone can save lives and money when distributed to heroin users, a new study finds.
Foundations can play a vital role in battling the epidemic of opiate overdoses. In addition to funding, some foundations have the expertise to provide technical assistance and can bring together communities and policymakers to devise solutions to this devastating public health problem, says Ann Barnum of The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati.
An analysis of studies that evaluated two medications used to treat alcoholism concludes they are a good first option for people who want treatment but wish to avoid an inpatient program.
Almost 400 people in Minnesota have died of methadone-involved overdoses since 2001, according to the Duluth News Tribune. From 2006 to 2010, the number of methadone deaths almost equaled those who died from firearms, the newspaper reports.
Naloxone, the drug carried by ambulances to reverse overdoses, is also available in some states to be administered by trained members of the general public who might be present when an overdose occurs. Many lives have been saved by bystanders, and increasingly, notice is being taken of community-based naloxone distribution, says Dr. Sharon Stancliff of the Harm Reduction Coalition.
A combination of the drugs naltrexone and buprenorphine might be an effective treatment for cocaine addiction, a study in rats suggests.
Maine’s decision to retroactively limit Medicaid payments for buprenorphine to treat opiate addiction is likely to have disastrous consequences, warns the President of the Northern New England Society of Addiction Medicine.
Methadone causes 30 percent of prescription painkiller overdose deaths, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Some doctors are now prescribing methadone to treat chronic problems such as back pain, which is making the drug more widely available.
Not all treatments for alcoholism work for everyone who needs them, experts tell The New York Times. There are a few drugs that have shown promise in treating alcoholism when used with therapy. The challenge is to determine which treatments will benefit which patients.
The Medicaid contractor in Kentucky that announced last week it would stop paying for the opioid addiction medication buprenorphine has reversed its decision, according to The Courier-Journal.
Doctors caring for pregnant women addicted to opioids may face a difficult choice—should they treat with methadone or buprenorphine? Physicians must consider the individual circumstances of the mother, says Karol Kaltenbach, PhD, Director of Maternal Addiction Treatment Education and Research at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia.
A Medicaid provider in Kentucky has announced it will stop paying for the opioid addiction medication buprenorphine. A doctor who prescribes the medication says the company’s decision could lead to serious complications, relapse and even overdose deaths.
Contrary to concerns that methadone treatment clinics attract crime to the surrounding area, a new study finds there is no evidence this occurs.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says distributing the opioid overdose antidote naloxone should be considered as a way to curb the increase in overdose deaths, Time reports.
The opioid-overdose antidote naloxone is being more widely distributed to people who use drugs, according to the Associated Press. While many public health officials say it saves lives, critics argue that making the antidote easily available could make people less likely to seek treatment.
Heroin-dependent adults are more sensitive to pain than people who do not use illicit drugs, according to a new study that finds their sensitivity does not decrease even when they are treated with methadone or buprenorphine.
A program in Philadelphia that supplies the opioid overdose antidote naloxone to people addicted to drugs, their spouses and other laypeople, and trains them in how to use it, is saving lives, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Treating long-term heroin users with medically prescribed heroin is more cost-effective than methadone, a new study suggests.
Widely distributing the opioid overdose antidote naloxone, and training people in how to use it, could save many lives, suggests a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report.
Men who are on methadone treatment are twice as likely as the general population to be involved in motor vehicle accidents, according to a new study from Norway.
Interest is growing in Good Samaritan laws aimed at saving lives by encouraging people who witness drug overdoses to call 911. But much is not yet known about the laws’ impact on drug users, bystanders, paramedics and police.
The first large-scale study of treatment for addiction to prescription opioids finds the drug Suboxone (buprenorphine plus naloxone) can be an effective therapy. The study found adding intensive counseling for opioid dependence was not helpful, however.
The nasal-inhaled drug naloxone (Narcan) has been used to reverse more than 1,000 opiate overdoses in Massachusetts in the past four years, according to the Boston Globe.
Naltrexone, approved by the Food and Drug Administration as treatment for alcohol dependence, may be especially effective in people of Asian descent, a new study suggests.
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