Baltimore Buprenorphine Initiative

If you are not with the Baltimore Buprenorphine Initiative, go to the BupPractice.com homepage and register.

Welcome to the Baltimore Buprenorphine Initiative, which is FREE to Baltimore physicians.

If you are new to the site, contact Vanessa Kuhn at vkuhn@bsasinc.org to sign up for an account. You then will be directed to a set of forms. Please read and fill out each form and click Continue at the bottom of each page to move forward. (Please do not use the Back button on your browser, as that will make you start over.) Completion of these forms takes approximately 15 minutes.

Remember your User Name and Password since you will need them when you return to the site. Note that you can use your User Name and e-mail address interchangeably on this site.

November 10, 2006

Dear Colleague,

Buprenorphine therapy is a safe and effective treatment for heroin addiction. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has developed a basic protocol that contains the best practice guidelines for the treatment and maintenance of opioid-dependent patients. This protocol provides physicians with the science-based clinical practice guidelines for the use of buprenorphine.

To prescribe buprenorphine, doctors need to take just two steps. Participation requires completion of an eight hour training course that is administered completely on-line, and completion of a one-page waiver application.

As explained in the registration materials, the health department will do everything to make this easy and straightforward including paying for the training, arranging for the on-line course, and completing the waiver form for you.

Thank you for joining the fight against heroin addiction in Baltimore City.

Sincerely,

Joshua Sharfstein, MD
Health Commissioner