Prescription opioids are dangergous in the hands of drug abusers, but they are also beneficial or even lifesaving for millions of people who otherwise would live with chronic pain. Clinicians who prescribe opioids are often caught between their professional obligation to relieve suffering and their desire to avoid contributing to the non-medical consumption of controlled substances.

Primary care physicians, nurse practioners and other first-contact clinicians are uniquely positioned to make a difference at the beginning of medical treatment. Research indicates that a patient with chronic pain or a substance-abuse disorder is far more likely to seek treatment from a family doctor than from a specialist. That reality creates an opportunity for front-line clinicians to maximize the chances for success when patients begin opioid therapy.

This book was written to help all interested parties (eg, clinicians who treat pain, drug and medical-practice regulators, law-enforcement authorities and pharmacists) to sort out the clinical, regulatory, and ethical issues associated with the prescribing of opioid analgesics and to reduce the risk of medication misuse, abuse, and diversion. The information presented here is based on the work of numerous experts in the fields of pain management and addicition medicine. If knowledge is power, then this information is intended to instill the power and confidence needed for clinicians to safely treat their patients' pain and restore their dignity and lost quality of life.

Author: Lynn R. Webster M.D. and Beth Dove
Paperback: 208 pages
Company: Sunrise River Press (2007-06-01) (2007-06-01)
ISBN: 0962481483
List Price: $24.95
Amazon Price: $6.99
Used Price: $5.48

This book selectively discusses recent advances in human experimental models relating to the treatment of opioid dependence. The author critically reviewed three independent lines of research conducted during the past decade with heroin-dependent volunteers. One research strategy involves studying the -opioid receptor (OR), which is the molecular target for the reinforcing and physical dependence producing effects of heroin-like drugs. This has been accomplished by varying medication dose conditions, measuring the availability of brain -receptors in vivo and plasma pharmacokinetics, then correlating these biological concentration measures with clinically relevant endpoints, including opioid withdrawal symptoms, heroin craving, and blockade of the euphoric and respiratory depressant effects of -agonist challenges.These studies provide an initial benchmark for estimating OR occupancy or plasma concentration requirements for effective pharmacotherapy. A second research strategy determines the conditions under which -agonist medications function as reinforcers, and the ability of medication dose and the availability of non-drug alternative reinforcement to attenuate opioid choice. Taken together, these studies provide information relevant to the ability of the medication to stimulate adherence and reduce drug demand. A third research strategy seeks to determine whether non-opioid medications can attenuate the naloxone-precipitated (i.e. withdrawal related) discriminative stimulus, subjective and/or physiological effects in opioid-maintained individuals. These studies aim to identify compounds that may be safe and effective adjuncts during opioid detoxification and, potentially, anti-relapse agents. Evidence is also reviewed concerning individual differences identified in these models. Implications of these findings for clinical treatment are also discussed.

Author: Mark Greenwald
Paperback: 82 pages
Company: Nova Science Pub Inc (2008-10)
ISBN: 1604568070
List Price: $39.00
Amazon Price: $14.50
Used Price: $23.89

Author: James F. Maddux, David P. Desmond
Hardcover: 240 pages
Company: Praeger Publishers Inc (1982-04)
ISBN: 0030598176
List Price:
Amazon Price:
Used Price: $24.99

The Handbook of Office-Based Buprenorphine Treatment of Opioid Dependence will serve as a reliable guide for the addition of buprenorphine treatment into existing psychiatric practices and other primary care settings. The potential to improve the lives of patients with the disease of opioid addiction is great, and this book offers concrete and practical advice for managing patients in an office-based setting. Distinguished practicing psychiatrists, internists, and other clinical experts and researchers contribute their expertise with buprenorphine to this volume. It covers the subject matter thoroughly from the history of opioid abuse and assessment criteria for potential patients to clinical management and psychiatric comorbidity. This handbook provides the tools and guidelines necessary to help providers cultivate a therapeutic environment for treating opioid addiction that minimizes problem behaviors and optimizes treatment outcomes. The logistical requirements for setting up a successful office-based treatment program are provided in detail. Case vignettes, charts, and tables make the subject matter easily accessible for readers ranging from students to well-established practitioners.

Author: John A. Renner, Petros Levounis
Paperback: 357 pages
Company: American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc. (2010-09-07)
ISBN: 1585623695
List Price: $61.00
Amazon Price: $51.56
Used Price: $40.99

The most comprehensive text of its kind, this book addresses both the management of opioid withdrawal and opioid maintenance therapy, and combines up-to-date reviews of the scientific literature with evidence-based clinical guidelines for all of the relevant pharmacotherapies.

Paperback: 288 pages
Company: Informa Healthcare (2008-05-15)
ISBN: 1841844004
List Price: $79.95
Amazon Price: $75.95
Used Price: $48.32

This volume, is developed from a collaborative study sponsored by the World Health Organization over a period of five years, the result of the combined effort of over 30 experts working in 19 different countries. The book presents a comprehensive survey of the development, policy, and procedures of methadone maintenance in countries with experience in this treatment. In addition to presenting a general overview of methadone's role in treating opioid addiction, the volume also focuses on specific questions of current interest, particularly the critical issue of methadone maintenance in the prevention of AIDS. Public health specialists and policymakers will find this book an invaluable source of information about what can be expected from methadone maintenance programs and why such programs have achieved some success in the rehabilitation of opiate users, while so many other attempts in this area have failed. Following an introductory chapter, the contributors look at the impact of AIDS epidemiology on methadone policy. The role of methadone in addressing intravenous drug abuse and unsafe sex practices in drug dependent persons is explored in an attempt to assess the ability of methadone maintenance programs to stem the spread of AIDS. Subsequent chapters review the world literature on methadone in treating opioid dependency, explore national policies and practices regarding methadone maintenance, present an international survey of methadone's role, and analyze the present state of research on methadone. A bibliography and index complete the volume.

Hardcover: 128 pages
Company: Praeger Publishers (1990-06-26)
ISBN: 027593392X
List Price: $87.95
Amazon Price: $87.95
Used Price: $63.05

Opioid Peptides in Substance Abuse presents an encyclopedic survey of in vivo data examining the interrelationship between endogenous opioids and substance abuse. It emphasizes two main groups of abused substances (morphine congeners and psychostimulants) and addresses the following questions:

Author: Joseph I. Szekely
Hardcover: 288 pages
Company: CRC Press (1993-10-22)
ISBN: 0849379377
List Price: $267.95
Amazon Price: $55.99
Used Price: $10.00

Buprenorphine: Combatting Drug Abuse with a Unique Opioid

Editors: Alan Cowan and John W. Lewis

Scientists involved in the study of opioid pharmacology and drug abuse have long included among their goals the development of effective analgesics with reduced potential for abuse and dependence, and the development of effective pharmacological agents for the treatment of opioid abuse and dependence. Buprenorphine appears to have made an important scientific and clinical contribution on both of these fronts.

In this timely volume, international experts describe the unusual chemical and biological characteristics which make this agent unique, from the opiate receptor, through animal pharmacology, to clinical uses, culminating in a discussion of the use of buprenorphine as a medication in the treatment of opioid abuse.

Buprenorphine holds great promise as a significant addition to the therapeutic menu available to drug abuse therapists. Buprenorphine: Combatting Drug Abuse with a Unique Opioid will be indispensable to scientists and clinicians in pharmacology, neurobiology, psychiatry, neurology, and psychology, as well as to the wide spectrum of professionals involved in countering substance abuse.

Hardcover: 344 pages
Company: Wiley-Liss (1995-01-15)
ISBN: 0471561983
List Price: $231.95
Amazon Price: $177.90
Used Price: $154.38

This book covers a national sampling of 490 heroin addicts who were admitted to community-based treatment agencies in the Drug Abuse Reporting Program (DARP), and who were relocated and interviewed 12 years later. The findings and implications from this research project, which began in 1968 for the purpose of evaluating the effectiveness of community-based drug abuse treatment, are summarized in this text. The material is organized into sections on research design, addiction careers (outcome patterns, death rates, and duration of addiction), treatment histories, predictions of long-range outcomes, factors associated with addiction and relapse, and integrative prediction models providing a comprehensive review of contemporary thought.

Author: D. Dwayne Simpson
Hardcover: 288 pages Illustrated
Company: Krieger Pub Co (1989-07-01)
ISBN: 0894643096
List Price: $43.75
Amazon Price: $43.75
Used Price: $20.00

Author: Abraham Wikler
Hardcover: 255 pages
Company: Springer (1980-12-01)
ISBN: 0306405911
List Price: $92.00
Amazon Price:
Used Price: $5.57