Members of the U.S. Senate held a press conference and symposium* this week addressing restrictions on the number of opiate-addicted patients that doctors can treat using the drug buprenorphine, the Detroit Free Press reported Aug. 4.

Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) sponsored the event; he is cosponsoring a bill with Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) that would allow doctors to treat more than 30 patients with buprenorphine at once, lifting a cap currently written into federal law. The measure is currently awaiting a possible September vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Approved by the FDA in 2002, buprenorphine is a less-addictive alternative to methadone maintenance for opiate addicts, and has been approved for prescription through doctors' offices. However, the restrictions in the current law have limited the use and availability of buprenorphine treatment. Currently, about 3,000 of the nation's 240,000 family physicians are certified to prescribe the drug.

"It can't be a secret weapon," said Levin. "It's got to be known. It's got to be available." 

* Correction - August 8, 2006
Because of a reporting error in the Detroit Free Press article summarized in this story, the original version of this summary called the event a U.S. Senate Hearing. It was not an official hearing on legislation but instead was a well-attended symposium in which several prominent speakers addressed the issue at hand.