“The Trump administration is throwing its full support behind the use of medicines to treat people with opioid problems, and is opposing increasing tolerance of marijuana use by young people in part because that can lead to painkiller abuse, a top official said Friday.
“Medically assisted treatment is the standard of care for opioid use disorder,” said Elinore F. McCance-Katz, first assistant secretary for mental health and substance use with the Department of Health and Human Services.
Dr. McCance-Katz spoke Friday to thousands of psychiatrists and other health and social work professionals at the annual conference of the American Society of Addiction Medicine in San Diego.
Of the 2 million Americans with full-blown opioid use disorders, just 20 percent are getting treatment, she said. Of those getting treatment, only 37 percent are getting medicines including methadone, buprenorphine (commonly referred to by the brand name Suboxone) or naltrexone (usually the brand Vivitrol), she said.”
Source: PostGazette.com – April 13, 2018
