Explainer
Medication-Assisted Treatment: Fact vs Fiction
Persistent myths about MAT keep people from accessing the most effective treatment we have for opioid use disorder. Here are the facts.
“Isn’t it just replacing one drug with another?”
No. Buprenorphine and methadone occupy opioid receptors without producing euphoria at maintenance doses, blocking cravings and preventing overdose. It is closer to insulin for diabetes than to substitution.
“Doesn’t abstinence work better?”
Post-detox abstinence-only outcomes for opioid use disorder are poor — roughly 90 percent relapse within a year, with elevated overdose risk. MAT cuts mortality by half or more.
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