A Baltimore City grand jury has concluded that buprenorphine — a pharmaceutical treatment for opiate addiction — is both effective and safe, countering critics who said the drug was widely abused.
The report, issued Monday after an intensive study of the drug from January to May, also recommends Baltimore health officials expand the availability of buprenorphine to treat addicts citywide.
The 46-page report includes interviews with addicts, treatment specialists and city health officials. It also surveys available medical literature on both the effectiveness and safety of buprenorphine, a synthetic opiate that eases the cravings and flu-like withdrawal symptoms associated with addiction to drugs such as heroin and oxocodone.
Among the report’s conclusion were that any risk of “diversion” of buprenorphine for abuse was far outweighed by the benefits of using the drug to treat addicts.
“Consideration should be given to reducing some of the existing controls if it would result in enhanced access to buprenorphine treatment,” the report concluded.
The report also proposed expanding the ability of health professionals to prescribe the drug directly to patients, including training registered nurses to prescribe the drug.
The report comes as city health officials continue to tout the use of buprenorphine to treat opiate addicts despite questions about the drug’s safety.
“I think it is important to stress this jury represents a cross section of the people of city who are looking at buprenorphine from the perspective of what it can do to move Baltimore forward,” said City Health Commissioner Josh Sharfstein.
“I think the report supports the premise that we’re operating from that buprenorphine offers tremendous potential to save lives in Baltimore.”
First approved in the 2004 by the Federal Drug Administration as a treament for opiate addiction, buprenorphine has been touted by supporters as a less addictive alternative to methadone, a more potent synthetic opiate used to treat opiate addiction. However, the prescribing of Buprenorphine has been limited by regulations put in place to prevent “diversion” — or abuse of the drug by addicts.
The grand jury studied “diversion” and misuse of the drug in Baltimore, concluding that buprenorphine was not being “abused” and “does not lead to addiction.” The study also concluded the city had adequate controls in place to prevent abuse.
Dr. Michael Hayes, director of the Center for Addiction Medicine at Maryland General Hospital, said the report backs up his experience with the drug.
“It’s just the best news we could have, this is such a great drug and adds so much to our efforts to fight addition in the city,” he said.
“Hopefully this will spur us on to bigger and better things.”
