Mortality for methadone vs. buprenorphine

~ Jason Schwartz

I recently stumbled on this article about methadone treatment in Oregon. I’d say the article is positive about maintenance drugs, but these sentences lept out at me.

Opiate addicts who entered methadone programs were nearly five times more likely to die from drug overdoses within the first four weeks of treatment than those who entered buprenorphine programs, according to a study published online in The Lancet in September. Researchers with the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre in Australia retroactively followed about 32,000 opiate addicts after entering therapy programs. Those taking methadone were also twice as likely to die from any cause.

The Lancet article is paywalled.

Published by Jason Schwartz

I have been an addiction professional and social worker since 1994. I started blogging in 2005 as the Clinical Director at Dawn Farm. I no longer work at Dawn Farm and am now the Director of Behavioral Medicine at a community hospital, and a lecturer at Eastern Michigan University’s School of Social Work. Views expressed here are my own. Keep in mind that the field, the contexts in which the field operates, and my views have changed over time.