Until a few years ago, the only available medication for treating heroin addiction in Kentucky was methadone along with a few others like LAAM. But it was definitely methadone that was used quite prominently. However, this was not the safest option around. Methadone itself is an opioid like heroin. The whole premise of the heroin treatment using methadone was to make the person dependent on methadone instead of heroin. This would make the person slowly overcome the urge that methadone causes and gradually by diminishing the dosage of methadone, the person could be made completely addiction free. This was principally sound, but there are several problems with this kind of treatment. Methadone needs to be administered in a very strictly medical setting, because misuse of the drug can be fatal. Also special medical care is needed when the person’s dosage for methadone is reduced or when the patient is on some other kind of medication. There have been several deaths connected to methadone substance abuse in Kentucky that makes this kind of treatment a bit risky, though highly effective.

A new treatment approach introduced in heroin addiction treatment in Kentucky a few years ago was treatment with buprenorphine. Buprenorphine is again an opioid but it is much less dangerous than methadone. In fact, buprenorphine is FDA approved for outpatient treatment too. This does bring more people into heroin addiction treatment because not everyone likes the idea of staying in a heroin rehab. Buprenorphine is also habit forming if unmonitored, but the risks posed by buprenorphine are much less than those by methadone. In fact, the FDA has approved two stronger versions of buprenorphine in recent years, Subutex containing only buprenorphine and Suboxone containing buprenorphine along with naloxone to reduce its addictive effect.