APA News Release

October 19, 2000

Contact: APA Public Affairs Office
202-336-5700

WASHINGTON - The American Psychological Association (APA) supports a new law that will offer people dependent on opiates a safe and effective alternative to the current methadone maintenance programs. The Drug Addiction Treatment Act (H.R. 2634), which was part of the Children's Health Act, contains provisions to increase the availability of buprenorphine. This drug is currently being reviewed by the FDA for the treatment of opiate dependence.

"The passage of this bill marks a new era in the treatment of heroin and opioid dependence," said psychologist Warren Bickel, Ph.D., who is a leading expert on the psychopharmacotherapy of opioid dependence and professor and Vice-Chair of the Psychiatry Department at the University of Vermont and Editor of Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology.

"Buprenorphine is an outstanding medication that has been supported by considerable science, with much of that science generated by psychologists and psychopharmacologists. Moreover, this legislation will bring treatment of heroin and other opioid dependencies out of the specialized clinic approach and render it more as a routine health care approach, " said Dr. Bickel.

"Buprenorphine will help close the treatment gap between the available opiate-dependence treatment slots and the number actually needed to serve all those seeking treatment, which is estimated at more than 500,000," says Geoff Mumford, Ph.D., Acting Director for Science Policy at APA. "It would offer those who would not seek treatment from methadone clinics for fear of stigmatization - including working people, suburbanites and teen heroin users - a chance to lead a normal life."

"In the hands of appropriately-trained primary care physicians, buprenorphine will provide a widely accessible treatment alternative for individuals addicted to opiates. But it is important to note that addiction treatment research has shown that pharmacotherapy works best when combined with behavioral and psychosocial interventions," said Dr. Mumford.

While the APA applauds this new office-based treatment model, the experts strongly recommend that patients receiving opiate dependence treatment also receive the appropriate counseling and psychosocial services. Treatment with counseling will give patients the best chance for recovery. Specific training requirements for primary care physicians also need to be strengthened. APA joined several other organizations including the College on Problems of Drug Dependence, the Academy of Addiction Psychiatry and the American Society of Addiction Medicine in support of these recommendations with letters to the House Commerce Committee as this legislation evolved during the spring of 2000.

###