The Coleman Institute Blog

Recently, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services decided to publish "Practice and Guidelines for the Administration of Buprenorphine for Treating Opioid Use Disorder" to expand access to medication-assisted treatments (MAT) by exempting physicians from certain requirements needed to prescribe buprenorphine for opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment.

Since 2020, more than 83,000 drug overdoses have occurred in the United States, the highest number ever recorded in a 12-month period according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The increase in overdose fatalities only signifies the need for treatment services to be more accessible for people at risk and this action will expand access to availability of treatments (such as buprenorphine) for opioid use disorder treatment

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An estimated 2 million people in the United States have a substance use disorder related to opioid pain medications. To put that into perspective, that is 1 in every 13 individuals. Too often these people suffering from addiction feel as if there is no way out.

What they don't know is that although it may feel impossible to resist the impulse, you can treat opioid addiction.

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What is dopamine? Dopamine is known as a pleasure molecule that is released in the nucleus accumbens area of the brain when we do pleasurable things — like eat food, have sex, or even take prescription opioids (drugs). When dopamine releases in the brain, we experience a strong sensation of pleasure and, of course, we will want to repeat that experience.

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A recent publication by Health and Human Services (HSS) reports that opioid prescriptions in the US peaked at 255 million in 2012 and decreased to 191 million in 2017. (more…)

Ramon decided to stop taking methadone during the COVID-19 pandemic. Was it essential or was it elective? Perhaps in Ramon’s case, it was a bit of both.

Going to a methadone clinic was never what he pictured for himself. Ramon’s story includes neck and back surgery, several years of pain medication, a move to a rural community where the nearest pain management doctor was over an hour’s drive, and finally — resignedly — driving 45 minutes a day to the methadone clinic.

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