Between January and the end of June, 1,626 New Jerseyans lost their lives to an overdose, the state Attorney General’s office reports. 

SAMHSA research says that New Jersey doctors prescribed 39 prescriptions for an average of 100 patients in 2018. 

Before the Covid-19, an in-person visit to the clinic was a must for getting the medication.

But luckily, the Trump administration allowed addiction doctors to prescribe medications online, and we entered a new era of treating addiction. 

Virtual Addiction Treatment

With the advent of telehealth or web-based treatment, not only the admissions to Suboxone treatment centers in New Jersey increased, but the access to timely treatment for patients living far away from clinics and major city areas also increased. 

According to Dr. Stephen Loyd, chief medical officer of Cedar Recovery in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, "When we incorporated this, the percentage of patients that we had showing up regularly for their scheduled appointments skyrocketed," he says. "I've had multiple days over the past month where I had 100% show rate, which was unheard of before the pandemic."

Though telehealth or phone-based treatment is not a new concept, the acceptance of this concept has increased multiple times recently. 

Tara Sklar, who is a professor of health law and the director of the health law policy program at the University of Arizona, says, "We've had this technology for a very long time and it's been stifled for political reasons, status quo, and inertia, But one of the silver linings of Covid is that we finally got to this point where regulations are being relaxed."

Only licensed doctors can prescribe Suboxone:

New Jersey State laws say that only licensed doctors can prescribe Suboxone, and licensed doctors can only prescribe this medication to a few patients. So something needs to be done for patients fighting Opioid addiction. 

Unfortunately, patients started getting Suboxone through illegal channels. This increases the Suboxone dependence because FDA says that medication for opioids should only be used under the supervision of expert staff. 

How we are winning the battle against opioid addiction:

• Increase access to Suboxone
• Patients can get the prescription from the comfort of their home
• The stigma associated with addiction has decreased

Dr. Aaron Gelfand of ChoicePoint speaking about an online Suboxone clinic near you says that this is significant because one of the barricades we have had is admittance to treatment. There are insufficient quantities of clinicians that are waived to furnish with buprenorphine, which has been a significant barrier. So - and a few doctors don't have any desire to recommend this because they would prefer not to go through the additional weight of doing the preparation. So this will build the number of individuals that can be dealt with. Also, buprenorphine is likely perhaps the best way to keep individuals from ingesting too much from all of the narcotics out there in the bootleg market, which are very hazardous. And thus online availability of Suboxone doctors give relief to anyone suffering from Opioid addiction.

Despite the online availability of addiction treatment, many clinical psychologists have started offering their services online. Remember that behavior-changing therapies offered by them help patients recover from the psychological effects of addiction. 

One of the top-rated psychologists, Sue Johnson, spoke to Choicepoint about the importance of DBT and timely access to addiction treatment. "First, we clarify the problem and normalize it to calm any sense of shame or inadequacy," she said, "And timely online addiction treatment removes the barriers in timely access to addiction treatment." 

Until we don’t treat the hidden causes of addiction, chances of long term recovery will be minimal. Many patients abuse prescription drugs like Xanax. They ask Is Xanax an Opioid? Xanax addiction is common in pregnant mothers. To address such addiction, doctors need to address underlying causes too. 

What we see is that patients got the medication to cope with their withdrawal symptoms, but overlook their psychological aspects of addiction. 

That’s why In New Jersey alone, HIV was diagnosed in 778 patients that were attributed to injected drug use.  

To cope with this situation, awareness should be raised that patients should not only get prescription for Opioid addiction but also what made them fall into the trap of addiction. 

Top therapies that can help patients commit to lifelong recovery are Cognitive behavior therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, group therapy and individual therapy.

Another clinical psychologist named Dr. M. Trombone spoke to ChoicePoint and says that “One of the most important ways that Psychology can help break the cycle of addiction is actually two-fold. More specifically, Psychology can seek to understand and work with what lies beneath addiction, without judgment, as well as remember that successful treatment does not entail a ‘one size fits all’ philosophy or approach. Like people tend to be, addiction is often complex. Psychology can also help by maintaining hope!”

Saying all this, stigma associated with addiction also needs to be removed at all levels. We as a nation should support people fighting with addiction.