The Need
Benzodiazepines (BZDs) are widely used and misused in conjunction with medication-assisted treatment (MAT).
The frequency with which MAT patients concurrently use BZDs carries major risk of harm, including mortality.
In Philadelphia, BZD abuse in MAT programs as a long term problem that seemed to be expanding in severity and scope.
There is a dearth of research about how to effectively administer MAT when a patient is using (licitly or illicitly) BZDs.