Dave: Hi! My name is Dave, I am from Ottawa, Canada. My mom, she has been a addicted to heroine for a long time. I am wondering if methadon is the best option or are there other drugs that can actually help her?
Suzanne Thomas: So Methadone Maintenance Therapy has been very effective in treating people with heroine addiction. Thousands of people across the country have received methadone and it cuts the craving for heroine and it allows those people to live more productive, sober lives. Unfortunately, one of the drawbacks of methadone maintenance therapy is that the person has to go everyday to the methadone clinic to get their dose of drug.
One of the things that we had the advantage of having is buprenorphine come on to the scene in the past few years and that's another drug that's used instead of methadone. What buprenorphine does Dave is that it allows the person to have a take home pill and it's not necessarily have to be delivered by a methadone clinic. A physician can prescribe buprenorphine.
If the methadone patient for example, was on a high dose of daily methadone, say greater than 50 milligrams, buprenorphine may not be the best treatment option. However, if the person was on lower than 50 milligram, research suggests that buprenorphine maybe more effective than Methadon.
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