A July 8, 2015, article in the online version of
USA Today highlights the contrasting perspectives among lawmakers on how best to combat opioid drug addiction and overdose deaths in the United States. The article also examines the successes and current challenges of implementing Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) programs to combat opiate addiction (
Advocates push to expand use of medications to treat addiction).
According to the article, the Obama administration's plan to expand the use of buprenorphine, methadone and naltrexone to treat opiate addiction has caused a controversy among some lawmakers, rehabilitation organizations, and patients who view medication-assisted treatment of opiate addiction as ineffective and another source of addicting drugs. A lawmaker cited in the article commented that medication-assisted treatment was "government-sponsored addiction" that substitutes one form of drug dependence for another.
Lawmakers from both chambers of Congress have in recent weeks drafted a bill that would expand the number of patients doctors can prescribe buprenorphine from 30 to 100. Currently, doctors are limited to prescribing buprenorphine to 30 patients in their first year after completing a buprenorphine training program. The bill would also allow nurse practitioners and physician assistants to prescribe buprenorphine.
Cerilliant offers an extensive list of solution Certified Reference Materials for opiates and other drugs used in pain management as well as their metabolites, impurities, degradants, and stable-labeled internal standards. These drugs of abuse reference standards are suitable for a variety of testing applications from forensic drug testing, clinical toxicology analysis, and calibrator preparation to urine drug testing, pharmaceutical research, and isotope dilution methods.
Opiates are classified as controlled substances. For standards of controlled substances, our USDEA exemptions and TK#s allow laboratories in the US and Canada to order these standards without DEA paperwork. Click on the link below to view our complete listing of opiate Certified Spiking Solutions®: