Hall-Brooke Offers Private Outpatient Detox

WESTPORT — A totally new Ambulatory Opiate Detoxification Program has been launched by Hall-Brooke Behavioral Health Services, 47 Long Lots Road, as part of its outpatient addiction services.

The new outpatient treatment modality is a drastic change for persons seeking freedom from addiction to opiates, which include pain killers such as Oxycontin, Percocet, and Vicodan, as well as heroin, morphine, codeine, and methadone.

Until recently, their only detoxification option, other than hospitalization, was to queue up at a methadone clinic for daily outpatient treatments, a requirement considered so demeaning and life disruptive that it was an effective deterrent for many potential patients.

Because of recent changes in FDA regulations, treatment to break free from opiate bondage is now realistically available in private physicians’ offices with buprenorphine, a controlled substance. This medication, considered superior to methadone, is available by prescription in pill form.

Physicians interested in treating patients with buprenorphine must apply for a waiver, which requires training in its use. The physician must also agree to strict mandates for monitoring patients and for providing them with counseling.

Buprenorphine is the only FDA-approved medication permitted for use in treating opiate-addicted patients in an office-based setting. Relatively new to the United States, it has been used for 20 years in Europe, where research has shown it to be safer and more effective than the widely known methadone. Side effects are possible with both substances.

Mental health professionals maintain that it is time for society to treat substance abuse and addiction as what they really are: medical problems, not moral failings. Some people, they note, become addicted to pain killers in the course of legitimate medical treatment. They are not stereotypical drug addicts. Private buprenorphine treatment in a physician’s office provides the confidentiality and the individualized care that allows patients to continue the routines of their lives.

In the Hall-Brooke program, patients receive a complete medical and psychosocial evaluation, medication management, individual counseling, and referrals to community support groups.

Opiate abuse is a growing problem, with an estimated 1.4 million Americans reported dependent on prescription pain medications in 2003, according to the most recent available statistics compiled by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration. Nonmedical use of the drugs soared to nearly 12 million that year.

Hall-Brooke is a wholly owned subsidiary of St Vincent’s Health services of Bridgeport. It is affiliated with the Department of Psychiatry of Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Inquiries about Hall-Brooke’s private buprenorphine treatments can be gained by calling Margarita Barab, the program coordinator at 203-221-8832.