Buprenorphine in the Treatment of Opioid Dependence

What Is the Scope of the Problem?

• In 2000, over two and a half million Americans reported using heroin at least once.



• In 1999, almost 150,000 Americans reported initiating heroin use (Summary of Findings from the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse 1999).



• In 2000, it is estimated that there were 810,000 to 1 million chronic users of heroin in the United States (Office of National Drug Control Policy 2000), the highest number since the mid- to late 1970s.