Updated Evidence-Based Recommendations for Buprenorphine Treatment

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Brandon May of Clinical Pain Advisor discusses updated evidence-based recommendations for Buprenorphine treatment. See the full article here.

Comments from the owner:

This extensive review article makes several blockbuster recommendations for opioid addiction treatment based on long-term patient outcomes. It also supports many notions long suspected by practitioners who prescribe buprenorphine products. First, the meds are very safe. Second, they are safe to use even in combination with judiciously prescribed benzodiazepines. Third, it is clearly the buprenorphine itself that is of primary importance in preventing relapse, not behavioral therapy. This is consistent with the belief that for behavioral health to be useful in selected patients, the patient must first have cravings and urges controlled by buprenorphine. Fourth, ‘abstinence only’  programs are destined to fail for the vast majority of patients.

Odds of death from opioid overdose now greater than motor vehicle accidents.

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The odds of death due to an accidental opioid overdose are now greater than those of motor vehicle accidents.

According to the National Safety Counsel, the odds of dying in the United States from an accidental opioid overdose are now greater than those of dying in a motor vehicle accident. Read the full article here.

Comments from the owner:

These data are a stark reminder of the heavy toll of opioid addiction. Now more common than fatal traffic accidents, opioid overdose deaths have increased markedly since 2000. Fatal overdoses from heroin and prescription medications are now second to deaths involving fentanyl and carfentanyl. These synthetic opioids are largely manufactured and imported from Mexico and China. The addicted user being more accustomed to the effects of the far less potent heroin injects the fentanyl product expecting a similar effect, but instead 100 times more powerful.