ArticleJournal of substance abuse treatment2020
Revising our attitudes towards agonist medications and their diversion in a time of pandemic.
Article in Journal of substance abuse treatment, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Lessons from COVID-19 for improving delivery of medications for opioid use disorder in future pandemic events: results from a Puerto Rico Delphi consensus panel.Harm reduction journal · 2026Article
- "The Sky Didn't Fall": Patient and Clinician Experiences With Increased Buprenorphine Prescription Lengths During Pandemic-related Telehealth Expansion.Journal of addiction medicine · 2026Article
- Concerns About Medications for Opioid Use Disorder Among American Indian Community Members: A Qualitative Secondary Analysis.Public opinion quarterly · 2025Article
- State guidance and system changes related to COVID-19: Impact on opioid treatment programs.Journal of substance use and addiction treatment · 2024Article
- Impact of COVID-19 & Response Measures on HIV-HCV Prevention Services and Social Determinants in People Who Inject Drugs in 13 Sites with Recent HIV Outbreaks in Europe, North America and Israel.AIDS and behavior · 2023Article
- The development and validation of the pandemic medication-assisted treatment questionnaire for the assessment of pandemic crises impact on medication management and administration for patients with opioid use disorders.Nordisk alkohol- & narkotikatidskrift : NAT · 2023Article
- Substance use disorders and COVID-19: reflections on international research and practice changes during the "poly-crisis".Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- E-Cigarettes, the FDA's Strategic Orientation, and Lessons from the Opioid Crisis.The American journal of bioethics : AJOB · 2022Article
- Perspectives of opioid use disorder treatment providers during COVID-19: Adapting to flexibilities and sustaining reforms.Journal of substance abuse treatment · 2022Article
- Nonfatal opioid overdoses before and after Covid-19: Regional variation in rates of change.PloS one · 2022Article
- Pathways between COVID-19 public health responses and increasing overdose risks: A rapid review and conceptual framework.The International journal on drug policy · 2021Review
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic led government regulators to relax prescribing rules for buprenorphine and methadone, the agonist medications that effectively treat opioid use disorder, allowing for take home supplies of up to 28 days. These changes prioritized the availability of these medications over concerns about their misuse and diversion, and they provided a means for overdose prophylaxis during the highly uncertain conditions of the pandemic. In considering how to capitalize on this shift, research should determine the extent to which increased diversion has occurred as a result, and what the consequences may have been. The shifts also set the stage to consider if methadone can be safely prescribed in primary care settings, and if the monthly injectable formulation of buprenorphine is a suitable alternative to increased supplies of sublingual strips if concerns about diversion persist. The disruptions of the pandemic have caused a surge in overdose deaths, so carefully considering the prophylactic potential of agonist medications, in addition to their role as a treatment, may help us address this mortality crisis.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.