An opioid alternative helps one veteran find relief from chronic pain

Dr. Joseph Frank, who leads a team at the Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center for veterans with chronic pain [and associate professor of medicine at CU School of Medicine], has been prescribing the drug buprenorphine for patients who have used traditional opioid painkillers for relief but want an alternative that’s safer and has fewer side-effects. Dr. Frank said in many cases, his patients report the drug works better than the drugs they had been taking.