Program helps doctors who treat addictions

The number of patients becoming addicted to narcotic pain meds outstrips the number of physicians available to treat them.

By Susan J. Landers, AMNews staff. Nov. 1, 2004.

Washington -- Kent Diehl, MD, a family physician in Bismarck, N.D., was suspicious that some patients' requests for pain medication were actually an indication that they were addicted to the opiates prescribed. "I'm a family practitioner and I was getting tired of seeing addicts or people I thought were becoming addicted coming in and giving me a story about their shoulder pain or their back pain."

Now, Dr. Diehl can confront the problem head on after joining a federal program that allows him to treat drug addiction by prescribing buprenorphine, a controlled substance that blocks the effects of heroine and other opioids on the brain.

"You are treating the problem. They don't have back pain, they're addicted," Dr. Diehl said .

But there were some rocky moments when Dr. Diehl began. He turned to a local drug treatment program for advice. "I got help with setting limits, the consequences of behavior and relapse. That helped make all the difference," he said. "You can't deal with an addict on your own in a busy clinical practice."

The federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which coordinates the buprenorphine program, has taken note of this need for help and advice and is creating a mentoring program to coach physicians through their early experiences in dealing with a new set of treatment issues.

SAMHSA is teaming with the American Society of Addiction Medicine to develop a national network of about 50 physician mentors who have expertise in treating addiction to opioids with buprenorphine.