As a Physician Assistant in New York, I can prescribe any controlled opiate medication. However, despite 20 years experience in the addiction field, I cannot prescribe buprenorphine to help those addicted to opiates. Physicians are limited to providing this medication to 35-100 patients at a time. Opiate addiction is the number one killer of young adults. Buprenorphine is clinically shown, along with methadone, to be the most effective treatment for opiate addiction. If we treated patients with cancer the same way we treat patients with addiction, there would be a national uproar. Treatment availability must be opened and liberalized. The TREAT act appropriately addresses this issue. Increasing the physician cap to 200 patients is half-stepping the solution.
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