Doctors in New England have been quicker than those in other regions to embrace a buprenorphine-based drug that can be delivered on an outpatient basis to opiate addicts, the Boston Herald reported March 5.

"There is more use of these products in New England than in any other part of the country," said Nick Reuter, a public-health analyst for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, referring to Suboxone, a combination of buprenorphine and naloxone that can be prescribed in lieu of methadone. 

For example, Massachusetts alone is home to 413 of the 7,500 doctors in the U.S. authorized to prescribe Suboxone; New York and California have the largest numbers of authorized doctors.

Ira Mintzer, director of continuing medical education at Cambridge Health Alliance, reported a 50-percent success rate after six months of outpatient Suboxone. But P.S. Kishore of the National Library of Addictions says that he will only prescribe the drug to inpatients. "The problem with outpatient maintenance is that it's very hard to get them off," said Kishore. "Once you give them the candy, they don't want to give it up."