Preventing prescription opioid poisoning deaths is a major public health priority in Western societies. Deaths from these medications exceed deaths from all illicit drugs combined [1]. Methadone (for pain treatment) is involved in one third of US prescription opioid overdose deaths despite accounting for only 5% of dispensed opioids [2]. There is a dose-dependent increase […]

Opioid use disorders are considered a serious public health problem that is associated with increased morbidity and mortality (Degenhardt et al., 2014; Im et al., 2015; Larney et al., 2015; Yokell et al., 2014). While the recent rate of heroin use in the general population has remained relatively stable, with perhaps even some slight reduction […]

Reports on a study of physicians in the State of Washington who participated in a Rural Opioid Addiction Management Project on the use of buprenorphine-naloxone in the treatment of opioid use disorders. Study determined the percentage of physicians who prescribed this treatment, the characteristics associated with the prescribing physicians, the number of patients treated, and […]

ConclusionsDespite prison being a highly regulated and controlled environment, some level of diversion and sharing of psychoactive medication occurs among prisoners. The buprenorphine formulations used in OST present particular challenges with respect to supervised dosing in this setting. [White N, Ali R, Larance B, Zador D, Mattick RP, Degenhardt L. The extramedical use and diversion […]