Addiction Treatment

Guest: Dominick DePhilippis, Clinical Psychologist, National Coordinator for Implementation of Contingency Management, Philadelphia Center of Excellence in Substance Addiction Treatment and Education (CESATE), Department of Veterans Affairs The nation’s early warning system for detecting trends in drug abuse is picking up a strong signal right now from cocaine and methamphetamine. Increasing numbers of overdose deaths involve those stimulants, often in combination with opioids. But unlike with opioids, where methadone and suboxone have proven very effective at treating addiction, there is no medicine that can treat addiction to cocaine and methamphetamine. The most effective treatment we know of right now is a bit controversial, but it’s widely used in health clinics run by the Department of Veterans Affairs.