Why Medication-Assisted Treatment is Changing Opioid Addiction Treatment

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Why Medication-Assisted Treatment is Changing
Opioid Addiction Treatment
BLVD TREATMENT CENTER
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Company LOGO

• Medication-Assisted 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.

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Medication-Assisted Treatment a Controversial
Concept
Company LOGO

• The addiction treatment community has
  traditionally been divided on the use of MATs in
  treating opioid addiction. Traditionalists,
  adherents to the 12-step 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.

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What is Medication-Assisted Treatment
Company LOGO

• Medication-Assisted 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 (www.samhsa.gov).
  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.

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Company LOGO

• 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.

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The Controversy over Medication-Assisted Treatment
Company LOGO

• 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.

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Company LOGO

• However, not everyone is on board with MATs. Some
  lawmakers like Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa, see MAT as
  government-sponsored addiction that merely
  substitutes one form of drug dependence for
  another.
• Narcotics Anonymous (NA) and its 12-step model is
  a program of complete abstinence and views MATs
  as drug substitution.

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Expanding Access to MATs to Provide Effective
Opioid Addiction Treatment
Company LOGO

• In July of this year the U.S. Department of
  Health and Human Services published several new
  actions to address the countrys 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 life-saving drug that can reverse the effects
  of overdose.

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Company LOGO

• 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 addiction treatment in the Los
  Angeles, California area, Boulevard Centers
  provides medication-assisted treatment for people
  battling opioid addiction. Boulevard Centers
  strongly believes that opioid addiction requires
  a whole-patient treatment approach that includes
  the use of safe and effective medications. For
  more information, visit www.blvdcenters.org.

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CONTACT US

• Address
• BLVD Treatment Centers
• 448 South Hill Street
• Suite 303
• Los Angeles, CA 90013
• Phone
• [phone]
• https//www.blvdcenters.org