Pubdate: Sat, 22 Dec 2007
Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
Copyright: 2007 The Baltimore Sun Company
Contact:  http://www.baltimoresun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/37
Note: Titled by Newshawk
Author: Diana Morris, director of the Open Society Institute-Baltimore

BUPRENORPHINE PROMISING THERAPY FOR HEROIN ADDICTION

The Sun's series on the abuses of buprenorphine distorts the true 
picture of an extremely promising therapy for heroin addiction. Given 
the high social costs of addiction, the United States has embraced 
buprenorphine as an effective treatment, after carefully examining 
the experience of France and other countries. And a number of 
extraordinary controls guide the use of buprenorphine in this country.

As a result, buprenorphine is extremely safe when used properly. And 
thousands of people use buprenorphine appropriately and therefore 
safely. It has helped them turn around their lives.

In the process, it has saved the public all the negative health 
consequences and costs of heroin addiction, from HIV transmission and 
emergency room visits to property crime and incarceration.

The Sun should also cover these successful stories.

Diana Morris Baltimore

The writer is director of the Open Society Institute-Baltimore, which 
funds buprenorphine treatment and other drug treatment programs.
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