Our poster entitled “Buprenorphine in the United States: Motives for Abuse, Misuse, and Diversion” was presented at the College on Problems of Drug Dependence’s (CPDD) annual scientific meeting last month in San Antonio, Texas. This comprehensive review explores motivations behind buprenorphine misuse/abuse/diversion (AMD) and associated health policy implications. Additionally, the corresponding manuscript, co-authored by Venebio Group, was accepted into the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment.

Venebio conducted a comprehensive literature search focused on buprenorphine abuse, misuse, and diversion. After developing inclusion and exclusion criteria, the authors screened 775 titles and abstracts and ultimately reviewed 61 full publications. The final review included 27 studies that reported motives for buprenorphine AMD within the United States.

The results indicated that most respondents engaging in illicit buprenorphine use across the reviewed studies, did so far reasons related to misuse, rather than abuse, suggesting that many illicit users may be self-treating their opioid use disorder.

This manuscript filled a gap in the literature profiling the reasons for illicit buprenorphine use, further contributing to the ongoing evaluation of health policy guidelines surrounding buprenorphine prescribing.

To review the accepted manuscript, click here.