Wider Use of Medication-Assisted Treatment Urged for Teen Opioid Addiction

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is recommending that pediatricians consider offering medication-assisted treatment, such as buprenorphine, for teen and young adult patients with severe opioid use disorders, USA Today reports.

Pediatricians who do not prescribe the drugs themselves should refer patients to doctors who do, the group advises. According to the AAP, between 1991 and 2012, the rate of “nonmedical use” (use without a prescription or more than prescribed) of opioid medication by teens and young adults up to age 25 more than doubled. The rate of opioid use disorders, including heroin addiction, also jumped. The rate of fatal opioid overdose more than doubled between 2000 and 2013.