Columbia clinic expands treatment options with Suboxone for opioid use disorder
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Big Tree Medical announced on Wednesday that it will be providing Suboxone prescriptions for those struggling with opioid use disorder at its Columbia location.
Suboxone is one of the primary medications used to treat opioid addiction. Research from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine indicates it can reduce the risk of overdose by half and nearly doubles a person's chances of entering long-term recovery.
Suboxone has two medications in it, buprenorphine and naloxone. Buprenorphine helps reduce cravings and treat symptoms of opioid withdrawal while naloxone helps prevent diversion of the medication, according to area healthcare professionals.
Valley Hope Addiction Treatment and Recovery is one of many treatment facilities around the country that offers Suboxone tp people facing opioid addiction. An assistant director of nursing at one of Valley Hope's locations in Kansas -- who only referred to himself as Dave -- explained how the drug is administered. Valley Hope has a location in Boonville.
“We have a scoring system that we use. And they (patients) have to be at a certain point of their withdrawal, and then they also have to be at least 24 hours after their last use of opioids,” Dave told ABC 17 News. “The ultimate goal is to get them through the withdrawal easier. Suboxone also helps with cravings, so if it is something they want to do ongoing, it helps with the craving of opioid use.
"Basically, what it will do is it will attach itself to the receptors in your brain, so your brain thinks you are taking opiates when you are really not.”
While Suboxone can save lives, it has received pushback in recent years. In 2021 the Drug Enforcement Administration cracked down on pharmacies trying to dispense forms of Suboxone, across the country and even raided a pharmacy in West Virginia, according to a report from NPR.
In June, the Associated Press reported that Missouri was one of 41 states to receive $102.5 million in a settlement after claims that the makers of Suboxone engaged in anticompetitive practices, after accusing the company of making slight changes to the drug to extend its patent protection and keep generic versions of the drug off the market.
The U.S. has recently loosened up on the requirements needed for doctors and nurses to make suboxone more widely available. While Big Tree had made it available at their Columbia location, it is not yet available at all of their locations across the United States.
“I don’t know if I can speak for all providers on why they are not wanting to prescribe it, but I think there is a bit of a stigma about patients who have opioid use disorder and we want to be able to treat the whole patient and all medical problems,” Sarah Calhoun, a family physician at Big Tree Medical, told ABC 17 News. “There are certain regulations about who can prescribe the medication. Physicians are able to prescribe it and I recently started at Big Tree and it was a medication I was willing to offer it to patients that need it.”
ABC 17 News spoke with employees from six pharmacies in Columbia. CVS, Kilgores, Mizzou Pharmacy, and Walgreens all carry Suboxone. Hy-Vee was the only pharmacy ABC 17 News spoke with that did not.
