Levin Amendment Expands Access to 'Miracle Drug' to Treat Heroin Addiction

WASHINGTON, Dec. 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, the President signed into law legislation authored by Senators Carl Levin, D-Mich. and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, that more than triples the number of patients that qualified physicians are permitted to treat with buprenorphine, a medication that has proven successful in combating heroin addiction.

"The Drug Addiction Treatment Act (DATA) of 2000 made a dramatic change in the way America fights heroin addiction. Blocking the craving for heroin has now been accomplished for tens of thousands of patients who likely never would have sought treatment in highly restricted, centralized methadone programs," Levin said. "Due to the great success of buprenorphine treatment, however, many patients have not been able to begin treatment because of the current limit of 30 patients that each physician can treat. With the signing of this bill, physicians will be permitted to treat up to 100 patients with buprenorphine, reducing the current waiting lists for treatment."

DATA, which was also sponsored by Levin and Hatch, made it legal for physicians to prescribe and dispense buprenorphine in their private offices pending FDA approval, which came in 2002. This law created an entirely new treatment modality for millions of Americans who suffer from dependence on opioids, which include heroin, morphine, and some prescription painkillers. Prior to passage of this law, medical treatment for opioid addiction and dependence was restricted to centralized clinics.

"Bup has been hailed as a 'miracle drug' by medical professionals and addicts alike, and it has been successful in helping thousands of addicts get off -- and stay off -- heroin," Levin continued. "This common-sense fix allows many more Americans to rehabilitate their lives with bup."

At a Senate symposium hosted by Levin and Hatch in August 2006, patients testified to the lifesaving potential of bup. A college student from Boston, who had been addicted to heroin and in and out of methadone treatment unsuccessfully ten times, said that bup helped her to feel "normal for the first time in three and a half years." A Korean War veteran testified that bup "changed my life like night and day."

Experts and patients at the symposium also described how the patient restrictions have limited access to buprenorphine. The Levin amendment increases the patient limit to 100, correcting that unintended restriction.

Contact: Press Office

Phone: 202.228.3685 SOURCE The Office of Senator Carl Levin

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