Loading...
Addiction to heroin and pharmaceutical opioids is increasing among adolescents. In a multicenter trial, researchers randomized 152 adolescents (age range, 15–21 years) with opioid addiction to receive counseling plus buprenorphine-naloxone for 12 weeks or 14 days (detoxification taper). Buprenorphine is a partial opioid agonist that is associated with less-intensive withdrawal than full agonists and has a good safety record; it was combined with naloxone to avoid intravenous abuse. Oral buprenorphine-naloxone was administered at a treatment center and, in some cases, under supervision at home.
The 12-week group had significantly fewer opioid-positive urine tests than the 14-day group at 4 and 8 weeks, but not at 12 weeks. Only 16 of 78 patie…