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One of the out-patient rehabilitation alternatives for individuals in Penn battling with opioid dependence and addiction is opioid maintenance therapy. Licensed centers and doctors are certified to give certain meds to opioid addicted people, many that are opioids also and are habit forming. With low doses the user doesn't experience being high but also does not experience acute cravings and is not in opioid withdrawal. Methadone is the first medication administered for this reason, but there are a few more choices currently to select from.
Methadone is an opiate and is meant to be taken at an outpatient clinic licensed to dispense the drug, that is taken daily as a pill or liquid. The price of the drug is approximately $150 per month. Buprenorphine is also an opioid based drug, and is in pill form often taken every other day. But unlike Methadone that can only be dispensed in highly structured medical centers, Buprenorphine can be and is prescribed and administered in doctor's offices. The monthly cost of buprenorphine is around $300 /month for the generic version of the med. There is also a version of buprenorphine that contains naloxone, that is a drug which blocks the effects of opiates. Someone taking this version of the drug, also known as Suboxone, would find it more difficult to feel high from opioids if they relapsed while taking the drug. It is also taken on a daily basis, and is priced approximately $450 /month. Naltrexone is another medication used in opioid maintenance therapy, but unlike the other medications mentioned here it is an opiate blocker and is not an opiate. A person has the choice to take this medication as a monthly shot, which is called Vivitrol. As an opioid blocker, the drug prevents a person from getting high from opioids, and therefore lowers the risk associated with relapse. This daily shot costs in the range of $1000 to $1200 /month.
