Opioid Use Disorders: Pharmacology of Medications Used*

Course overview

The United States is currently experiencing an opioid epidemic. There are 2 million Americans meeting criteria for opioid use disorders due to prescription opioid use and an additional 0.5 million meeting criteria due to their heroin use. Deaths from opioid overdoses are now comparable to vehicle crash deaths and opioid misuse is estimated to cost society more than $55 billion per year. While medications have been researched and documented as effective clinical interventions to address the significant medical, emotional, criminal justice, and societal costs, less than 30% of treatment programs offer medications and less than half of eligible patients in those programs receive medications. Opioid use disorder (OUD) is increasingly encountered in clinical settings, and highly effective FDA approved medications are available for its treatment. This Course will introduce recommendations for evidence-based treatment for opioid use disorders that support the use of medication to assist clinicians in clinical decision making and patient management.