Therapy without a prescription

Buprenorphine/naloxone diversion and the therapeutic assemblage in Taiwan

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2249677
AutoresJia-Shin Chen (0000-0002-8521-677X, Institute of Science, Technology and Society National Yang‐Ming University Taipei Taiwan, autor de correspondencia)
Año2020
Volumen42
Número3
Páginas596-609
Fecha de publicación2020-03-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaSociology of Health & Illness (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0141-9889 • E-ISSN: 1467-9566
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1467-9566.13045
PMID31837048
OpenAlexW2995649049
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas5
Referencias citadas54

Buprenorphine/naloxone (B/N) therapy is a prescription pharmacotherapy for opioid dependence. For certain health service providers, when B/N escapes supervision and diverts into the hands of people for whom it is unintended, it can pose serious risks even if it may still have therapeutic benefits. The line between therapy and diversion is thus a problematic one. By qualitatively analysing archival review and in-depth interviews, this study uses the concept of a therapeutic assemblage to understand the relationships among government, knowledge, and professionals that surround the regulation of B/N in Taiwan. The therapeutic assemblage is characterised by the partitioning of administration, the loose regulation of prescription, the exclusion of addiction treatment from National Health Insurance (NHI), and the materiality and technicality of therapies. These elements contribute to the therapeutic assemblage's different territorial modes as reflected in the substance schedules that allow for diversion. This is the first grounded work in Asia that empirically examines and theoretically explains the diversion of B/N from an assemblage perspective. It suggests establishing new associations by incorporating addiction treatment into NHI. Lastly, it addresses the analytic purchase of the assemblage approach in unveiling and problematising unintended outcomes of an intervention

(+)-Naloxone · Addiction · Assemblage (archaeology · Buprenorphine · Geography · Government (linguistics · Medical prescription · Opioid · Psychiatry · Psychotherapist · HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk · Medicine · Nursing · Opioid Use Disorder Treatment · Psychology · Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes