Why it’s easier to be prescribed an opioid painkiller than the treatment for opioid addiction

(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Jeffrey Hom, University of Pennsylvania and Krisda H. Chaiyachati, University of Pennsylvania

(THE CONVERSATION) Prescription opioid abuse and its downstream effects have reached epidemic proportions in the United States. On May 26, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) moved a step closer to providing help to those addicted to opioids by approving a new implant containing buprenorphine, an opioid replacement that can reduce the cravings of addiction.

Still, thousands of people who could benefit from the drug may not have access to it. If the implantable form is regulated in the same way as its oral counterpart – and there is no reason to believe it will not be – only certain doctors will be allowed to prescribe the drug.

While little training is required for doctors to prescribe opioids for pain, onerous restrictions are placed on physicians who wish to and currently do prescribe oral buprenorphine. These restrictions exist because buprenorphine does have the potential to be misused. Yet the restrictions placed on it far exceed those on prescription opioid painkillers, for which the potential for abuse is high.

As physicians and health policy scholars, we see a disconnect. Why make it harder to receive treatment than to receive a dangerous drug in the first...