The opioid push that is going on in the United States today is seeing a lot of unwanted attention. With physicians able to freely prescribe opioids to their patients based on their symptoms, they continue to become a problem throughout the world today.
Many are wondering why the doctors that can so freely prescribe painkillers not prescribe the medication needed to overcome and deal with the addiction?
The push is looking to derail the entire substance abuse treatment (https://www.samhsa.gov/medication-assisted-treatment/treatment/methadone) and medications that are being used to treat addiction. The fear that Methadone (https://medlineplus.gov/druginfo/meds/a682134.html) and Suboxone (https://www.samhsa.gov/medication-assisted-treatment/treatment/buprenorphine) will be abused, just like the other opioids is becoming greater. Being able to closely monitor the use of this medication is important.
Making the Change on Substance Abuse Treatment Plans:
There are many physicians, state public health directors, members of Congress, and others in the healthcare field that are looking to regulate the use of these medications for substance abuse treatment.
These medications (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1070723/) are prescribed because they lessen the withdrawal symptoms from other addictions that users once had. Used often for opioid addiction, as well as heroin addicts, the medications are easy to abuse if not taken correctly, but when taken correctly, they have been proven to be an effective treatment plan. Both are easy to ween a person off of entirely.
They are hoping to allow physicians to prescribe these medications for the use of treatment, instead of pain management. Currently, physicians must go through an 8-hour course in order to be certified and in the system to prescribe this medication those going through a treatment plan.
With a new bill put in place, they are hoping to break barriers that would otherwise slow down the process of helping individuals overcome their addictions. This can expand treatment to many more areas and helps those who are seeking help with many options for finding help (https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/addiction/what-is-methadone#1) that is needed.
Finding a way to quickly help those who are going through this is the ultimate goal. The opioid epidemic takes over 50,000 lives per year and those that are unable to provide the necessary help may have been able to help someone if they didn't have barriers to cross.
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Seeking Help with Your Own Healthcare Provider:
If this bill is passed, this will provide those addicted (https://www.suboxone.com/) with a way to seek help from someone that they trust, such as their own medical care provider. This will also make it much easier for someone to turn to someone they know and trust for help, meaning more people may ask for help.
With the help that their own medical care providers can provide, instead of pushing them through a system, can reduce the chances of having the person skip the process and actually get the help they need.
Many substance abuse treatment centers currently do use this type of medication treatment plan within their facilities. They have specialized physicians and nurses that are on hand to provide these medications to those that are in the program. Providing these individuals with a way to overcome the addiction is the goal for many that are fighting the war on opioid addictions that seem to plague the United States currently.
When I write content for Sunshine Behavioral Health (https://www.facebook.com/SunshineBehavi1/), one of the biggest things I want to see if the availability of help out there. This proposed bill is one step towards that.