Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) Program

It’s A Substitute
A common misconception about medication-assisted treatment is that the process simply substitutes one approach for another (2). Doctors prescribe medications to reduce cravings and minimize withdrawal symptoms whenever possible. These medications can be taken more safely when a person can see a doctor for monitoring.

“People ask me all the time, ‘Well, aren’t they just substituting one drug for another?’ The answer is no. These are evidence-based treatments and they work,” said Patrice A. Harris, a board-certified psychiatrist and the chair of the American Medical Association’s opioid task force interviewed in Business Insider magazine.

It’s The Only Solution
Another misconception about medication-assisted treatment is that it is the only line of treatment a person needs for their treatment to be effective. Medication-assisted treatment can help address the physical addiction and cravings side to addiction, but it doesn’t address the mental pull that alcohol or opioids can have on a person. Psychotherapy and behavioral therapies are vital to help with overcoming addictions.

Evidence Is Effectiveness
According to the non-profit organization and research group The Pew Charitable Trusts, “the use of medications combined with psychosocial treatment is superior to drug or psychosocial treatment on its own.” According to the Trust, a person who uses medication-assisted treatment is more likely to adhere to their treatment program and reduce their illegal drug use. By using medication-assisted treatment, a person is less likely to contract infectious diseases, such as HIV and hepatitis C.

Proven Benefits
In addition, to support from The Pew Trust, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) also reports that combining medical therapies and counseling can help to successfully treat substance abuse disorders. Some of the proven benefits associated with medication assisted-therapies include:

• improved patient survival rates
• enhanced retention in treatment programs
• enhanced ability to gain employment and stay employed
• improved birth outcomes among pregnant women
• decreased criminal activity among those who suffer from substance abuse

Other advocacy groups who support medication-assisted treatment include the National Council for Behavioral Health, the American Society of Addiction Medicine, the U.S. surgeon general, and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

In addition to these benefits, there are several studies that outline the effectiveness of medication-assisted treatment. This includes one published in the American Journal of Public Health, which studied heroin overdose deaths in Baltimore, Maryland, between the years of 1995 and 2009. The authors found the availability of treatments, like methadone and buprenorphine, decreased deaths from overdoses by roughly 50 percent.

Suboxone is a medication used to treat opioid dependence, containing buprenorphine and naloxone. According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 15 million people suffer from opioid dependence in the U.S. and estimates are that this will increase to over 17 million in 2018.

• About 275 million people worldwide (5.6 percent of the global population aged 15 – 64 years) used drugs at least once during 2016. Among them, there were about 34 million people who used opioids and about 19 million who used opiates.
• There were an estimated 27 million people who suffered from opioid use disorders in 2016. The majority of people dependent on opioids used illicitly-cultivated and manufactured heroin, but an increasing proportion used prescription opioids.

Buprenorphine and naloxone, formulated as Suboxone, are used to treat this dependence. Buprenorphine is considered a “partial opioid agonist,” meaning that it produces a milder form of the effects produced by opioids (which are “full opioid agonists”). It essentially fills the brain’s opioids receptors without producing the same high as full opioids. One of the advantages of using Suboxone is that it cannot be taken to achieve a full opioid effect, making it more difficult to abuse than other forms of medication-assisted treatment. Suboxone can be utilized for both detox withdrawal symptoms and long-term opiate addiction treatment.