Facebook Live: Confronting Opioid Addiction

April 24, 2018

About Health Chat

Journalists, industry players, state officials, providers and patients discuss the hot health care issues of the day on Facebook Live and in podcasts.

Three medications have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat opioid addiction: methadone, buprenorphine and naltrexone. But access to them depends largely on where you live.

Methadone and buprenorphine are the two most popular options. But many California communities, particularly rural ones, have neither a methadone clinic nor a doctor who can prescribe buprenorphine.

More than 2,000 Californians died of opioid overdoses in 2016. About 12 percent of those deaths involved fentanyl, a deadly synthetic opioid painkiller that is 30 to 50 times more powerful than heroin.

On Tuesday, California Healthline columnist Emily Bazar and contributor Brian Rinker discussed the medications used to treat opioid addiction and the challenges of getting access to them. Among those challenges: Doctors must undergo eight hours of training before they can prescribe buprenorphine. Even then, they face limits on the number of patients they can treat.

To watch the discussion, which was recorded live, click on the video above.

Copy And Paste To Republish This Story

Facebook Live: Confronting Opioid Addiction

April 24, 2018

Article HTML

<h1>Facebook Live: Confronting Opioid Addiction</h1>	<iframe 
 title="Facebook Live: Confronting Opioid Addiction" aria-label="Podcast title: Facebook Live: Confronting Opioid Addiction"
		id="wpcom-iframe-45bde9ffde25364281518db8db09ceae-101091165-99279322"
		width="560"
		height="315"
		src="https://embeds.kff.org/protected-iframe/45bde9ffde25364281518db8db09ceae-101091165-99279322"
		scrolling="no"
		frameborder="0"
		class="wpcom-protected-iframe"
		>
	</iframe>
	<script type="text/javascript">
		( function() {
			var func = function() {
				var iframe = document.getElementById('wpcom-iframe-45bde9ffde25364281518db8db09ceae-101091165-99279322')
				if ( iframe ) {
					iframe.onload = function() {
						iframe.contentWindow.postMessage( {
							'msg_type': 'poll_size',
							'frame_id': 'wpcom-iframe-45bde9ffde25364281518db8db09ceae-101091165-99279322'
						}, "https:\/\/embeds.kff.org" );
					}
				}

// Autosize iframe
				var funcSizeResponse = function( e ) {

var origin = document.createElement( 'a' );
					origin.href = e.origin;

// Verify message origin
					if ( 'embeds.kff.org' !== origin.host )
						return;

// Verify message is in a format we expect
					if ( 'object' !== typeof e.data || undefined === e.data.msg_type )
						return;

switch ( e.data.msg_type ) {
						case 'poll_size:response':
							var iframe = document.getElementById( e.data._request.frame_id );

if ( iframe && '' === iframe.width )
								iframe.width = '100%';
							if ( iframe && '' === iframe.height )
								iframe.height = parseInt( e.data.height );

return;
						default:
							return;
					}
				}

if ( 'function' === typeof window.addEventListener ) {
					window.addEventListener( 'message', funcSizeResponse, false );
				} else if ( 'function' === typeof window.attachEvent ) {
					window.attachEvent( 'onmessage', funcSizeResponse );
				}
			}
			if (document.readyState === 'complete') { func.apply(); /* compat for infinite scroll */ }
			else if ( document.addEventListener ) { document.addEventListener( 'DOMContentLoaded', func, false ); }
			else if ( document.attachEvent ) { document.attachEvent( 'onreadystatechange', func ); }
		} )();
		</script>
	
<p><a href="https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm587315.htm">Three medications</a> have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat opioid addiction: methadone, buprenorphine and naltrexone. But access to them depends largely on <a href="https://californiahealthline.org/news/a-long-and-winding-road-kicking-heroin-in-an-opioid-treatment-desert/">where you live</a>.</p>
<p>Methadone and buprenorphine are the two most popular options. But many California communities, particularly rural ones, have neither a methadone clinic nor a doctor who can prescribe buprenorphine.</p>
<p>More than 2,000 Californians <a href="https://pdop.shinyapps.io/ODdash_v1/">died of opioid overdoses in 2016</a>. About 12 percent of those deaths involved fentanyl, a deadly synthetic opioid painkiller that is 30 to 50 times more powerful than heroin.</p>
<p>On Tuesday, California Healthline columnist Emily Bazar and contributor Brian Rinker discussed the medications used to treat opioid addiction and the challenges of getting access to them. Among those challenges: Doctors must undergo eight hours of training before they can prescribe buprenorphine. Even then, <a href="https://www.mprnews.org/story/2016/07/06/buprenorphine-opioid-treatment-increase-gets-federal-ok">they face limits</a> on the number of patients they can treat.</p>
<p>To watch the discussion, which was recorded live, click on the video above.</p>

We encourage organizations to republish our content, free of charge. Here’s what we ask:

You must credit us as the original publisher, with a hyperlink to our californiahealthline.org site. If possible, please include the original author(s) and “California Healthline” in the byline. Please preserve the hyperlinks in the story.

Have questions? Let us know.

From The California Health Care Foundation

Medi-Cal Medi-Cal Facts and Figures – 2024 Edition

Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid program, is the state’s health insurance program for Californians with low incomes, including children, people with disabilities, and seniors. Get the latest data on this program, which covers one in three Californians.

Health Policy Survey Health Disparities by Race and Ethnicity in California — 2024 Edition

Disparities among historically marginalized groups in California occur across many demographic categories. This Almanac provides data that show how people of color face barriers in accessing health care, often receive suboptimal treatment, and are most likely to experience poor outcomes in the health care system.

Health Policy Survey The 2024 CHCF California Health Policy Survey

Conducted in fall 2023, this survey collected Californian adults’ opinions and experiences on various health care topics, including mental health, medical debt, racial equity, and more.

Related Topics