962 - Buprenorphine Can Save Lives—If You Can Get It
Public Health On Call
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
4.6 • 644 Ratings
🗓️ 13 October 2025
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
About this episode:
Buprenorphine is a highly effective medication used for treating opioid use disorder. But accessing this lifesaving prescription can be challenging. In this episode: Jeff Hom and Marlene Lira talk about the critical role of buprenorphine in reducing overdose deaths and the role pharmacies can play in improving access.
Guests:
Jeff Hom, MD, MPH, is the Medical Officer for Science and Policy in the Substance Use Services section of the San Francisco Department of Public Health. He is also a DrPH student in Health Policy and Bloomberg Fellow at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Marlene C. Lira, MPH, is the Senior Director of Research at Workit Health, a multi-state telemedicine treatment provider for evidence-based addiction care, and a doctoral candidate in Health Policy & Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Host:
Lindsay Smith Rogers, MA, is the producer of the Public Health On Call podcast, an editor for Expert Insights, and the director of content strategy for the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Show links and related content:
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Pharmacy Barriers to Receiving Buprenorphine Among Patients Undergoing Telemedicine Addiction Treatment—JAMA Network Open
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Prescribing Buprenorphine By Telehealth: Lessons From San Francisco Amidst A Changing Regulatory Landscape—Health Affairs
-
The New Federal Regulations Aimed Making Methadone More Accessible—And Less Stigmatizing—Public Health On Call (April 2024)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Public Health On Call, a podcast from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, |
| 0:05.9 | where we bring evidence, experience, and perspective to make sense of today's leading health challenges. |
| 0:16.3 | If you have questions or ideas for us, please send an email to public health question at jh.h.u.edu. |
| 0:23.8 | That's public health question at jh.u.edu for future podcast episodes. |
| 0:31.5 | It's Lindsay Smith Rogers. |
| 0:33.5 | Today, access to buprenorphin in pharmacies. |
| 0:37.0 | Dr. Jeff Humb is the medical officer for science and policy in the Substance Use Services |
| 0:41.3 | section of the San Francisco Department of Public Health, and Marlena Lira is the Senior Director |
| 0:46.0 | of Research at Worket Health, a multi-state telemedicine treatment provider for evidence-based |
| 0:51.3 | addiction care. Both doctoral students at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School |
| 0:55.4 | of Public Health, Jeff and Marlena, talk with me about how local pharmacies like CBS and Walgreens |
| 1:00.9 | can be vital parts of the opioid response by dispensing buprenorphin and the regulatory |
| 1:06.5 | framework that both helps and sometimes hinders their ability to do so. Let's listen. Marlene Alira |
| 1:13.4 | and Jeff Hum, thank you so much for joining us on public health on call. Today, we're talking about |
| 1:19.1 | addiction treatment and pharmacies and specifically about buprenorphine. So Jeff, why don't you start |
| 1:25.7 | off by giving us an overview of this medication? |
| 1:27.8 | Sure. |
| 1:28.8 | So buprenorphin is a medication for treating opioid use disorder or opioid addiction, which is |
| 1:35.1 | often characterized by strong cravings for opioids and uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms when |
| 1:40.8 | those opioids are absent. |
| 1:42.7 | And it's that desire to avoid withdrawal symptoms |
| 1:46.0 | that prompts people with severe opioid use disorder |
... |
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