I am in favor of approving buprenorphine for teenagers with SUD.

My son died by suicide while going through heroin withdrawal in 2015. He was just 20 years old. I saw then how difficult it was for 15-25 year olds to stay in recovery, how few skills they had at that point in their lives.  

In conversations I had with Dr. Peter Coleman, a respected recovery specialist now retired, he shared that while he didn’t often prescribe buprenorphine long-term for adults, he made an exception for adolescents. Because the teenage brain is still developing, and teens often lack the maturity and life experience to fully engage in recovery, he saw long-term buprenorphine as a lifeline at least until they had more maturity. This was to keep them alive until they had time to grow, stabilize, and build the skills needed for a sustained recovery effort and program. 

Lapses in recovery for young people can be not only discouraging and costly, but deadly. Medication-assisted treatment, including longer-term use of buprenorphine, can save the lives of teenagers.