Health and Fitness

Representative Blumenauer Amendment to Lower Barriers to Opioid Addiction Treatment

Washington, DC –(ENEWSPF)—June 3, 2015. As the U.S. House of Representatives considers H.R. 2578, Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Act, Representative Earl Blumenauer (OR-03) will offer an amendment to ensure that no funds are available to the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to enforce inspections of physicians who prescribe buprenorphine – a Schedule III drug that is very effective in treating addiction to opioids, such as Vicodin and OxyCotin, on an outpatient basis.

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Physicians who want to prescribe buprenorphine are required to take an eight-hour certification, can only treat 30 patients at a time in their first year, and may only treat 100 patients a year after that. The DEA can also inspect prescribing records at any time. Doctors certified for buprenorphine report harassment from the DEA and cite that harassment as a major reason discouraging them from participating in the program.

“Under the current process, doctors have a more difficult time prescribing buprenorphine than the prescription opioids that cause the addiction. These restrictions are putting the lives of hundreds of patients at great risk,” said Representative Blumenauer. “DEA investigations and enforcement of so-called ‘pill mills’ are integral to preventing prescription drug abuse in America. We should focus our efforts and resources, however, on the problem – addictive prescription drugs – not medication that solves this problem by treating addiction.”

Source: Blumenauer.house.gov

 

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