Why medication assisted treatment is changing opioid addiction treatment

Why Medication­Assisted Treatment is Changing Opioid Addiction Treatment

Medication­Assisted Treatment (MAT) is a controversial approach to opioid addiction but is gaining support in the addiction medicine community. The current trend in addiction medicine favors the use of MATs in treating opioid addiction. The opioid epidemic in the United States has pushed opioid addiction treatment to the foreground of public health policy and with the numbers of overdose deaths on the rise, policy makers look to effective opioid treatment options.

Medication­Assisted Treatment a Controversial Concept The addiction treatment community has traditionally been divided on the use of MATs in treating opioid addiction. Traditionalists, adherents to the 12­step model of recovery, insist that MATs replace one addiction for another. While proponents of MATs take a more pragmatic stance claiming

that the use of MATs reduces the incidence of opioid related overdose death and increases success in treatment.

What is Medication­Assisted Treatment Medication­Assisted Treatment (MAT) is "the use of medications, in combination with counseling and behavioral therapies, to provide a 'whole­ patient' approach to the treatment of substance abuse disorders".

Methadone, buprenorphine, and naltrexone are used to treat opiate addiction by reducing cravings and blocking the euphoric effect of the abused drug.

Methadone has been used for decades to treat opioid addiction and works by tricking the brain into believing it is still getting opiates thereby preventing the addict from experiencing withdrawal. Methadone mitigates the painful symptoms of opiate withdrawal and blocks the euphoric effects of opiate drugs.

Buprenorphine operates much like methadone by suppressing and reducing opiate cravings. Often buprenorphine is combined with naloxone and sold under the brand name Suboxone. Naloxone blocks the effects of opioid medication that can lead to opioid abuse.

Naltrexone works differently than methadone and buprenorphine in that it blocks the euphoric and sedative effects of opiate drugs. Naltrexone is unique because instead of activating opioid receptors in the brain it binds and blocks those receptors reducing opiate cravings.

The Controversy over Medication­Assisted Treatment The federal government has made the use of MATs a cornerstone of its plan to combat opioid addiction in the United States. There is broad support for the use of MATs in the addiction science community.

Melinda Campopiano, medical officer at the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration argues that opiate addicts who undergo MAT reduce the risk of death from all cause in half. MATs are also an "essential component of an ongoing treatment plan" according to Nora Volkow, director of the

National Institute on Drug Abuse. The American Society of Addiction Medicine has called for greater use of MATs as have many members of Congress.

However, not everyone is on board with MATs. Some lawmakers like Rep. Tim Murphy, R­Pa, see MAT as "government­sponsored addiction" that merely substitutes one form of drug dependence for another.

Narcotics Anonymous (NA) and its 12­step model is a program of complete abstinence and views MATs as drug substitution.

Expanding Access to MATs to Provide Effective Opioid Addiction Treatment In July of this year the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published several new actions to address the country's opioid epidemic including the rule to increase access to MAT providers nationwide. The federal government supports the use of MATs in opioid treatment programs throughout the nation. The federal plan focuses on three priority areas: (1) increasing access to MAT, (2) improving prescribing practices, and (3) expanding the use of naloxone, a life­saving drug that can reverse the effects of overdose.

Despite the continued opposition of many in the addiction treatment community, MAT is here to stay as a fundamental element to opioid treatment. As federal policy continues to expand MAT, treatment providers, local courts, and health care providers will have little choice but to adopt MAT in their own practices.

If you need opiate drug addiction treatment California in the Los Angeles, California area, Boulevard Centers provides medication­assisted treatment for people battling opioid addiction. Boulevard Centers strongly believes that opioid addiction requires a whole­patient treatment approach that includes the use of safe and effective medications. For more information, visit www.blvdcenters.org.