Urine Testing for Opioid AddictionTop of Mind with Julie Rose • Season 1, Episode 994, Segment 2
Jan 28, 2019 • 10m
Guest: Sarah Bagley, MD, Internist at the Boston Medical Center and a professor of medicine and pediatrics at Boston University.
It’s usually standard procedure for people receiving treatment for opioid addiction to be asked to take a urine drug test regularly – especially early on in treatment. But it’s a bit controversial because there’s a kind of “I want to help you overcome this, but I don’t trust you to tell me the truth” feel to it – and trust is crucial in the relationship between a patient and therapist. So, are urine drug tests really necessary to treatment of opioid use disorder?