Using buprenorphine to facilitate entry into residential therapeutic community rehabilitation.

Phoenix House, a Community Treatment Provider (CTP) in the Long Island Node, participated in the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network (CTN) protocol NIDA-CTN-0001, “Buprenorphine/Naloxone versus Clonidine for Inpatient Opiate Detoxification.”

The resulting positive experience suggested to the medical and clinical staff at the CTP that a short-term on-site buprenorphine-naloxone regimen for medical withdrawal was safe and feasible, and held great promise as a tool to improve the early engagement and retention of opioid-dependent patients in long-term residential treatment. Phoenix House therefore established the “First Step” program for opioid-dependent patients entering the therapeutic community, in which an on-site, short-term, flexible regimen of buprenorphine-naloxone is provided and fully integrated into the initial phases of long-term residential treatment.

This report describes the initial outcomes with this novel program, which is designed to utilize buprenorphine-naloxone as a bridge to ongoing participation in long-term residential treatment for opioid-dependent patients.

Related protocols: CTN-0001