Medication-Assisted Treatment Inside Residential Recovery
FDA-Approved MAT Integrated With Residential Care — Buprenorphine, Naltrexone, Vivitrol & Disulfiram in Merchantville, NJ
If you are searching for medication-assisted treatment near Cherry Hill, Suboxone-friendly residential rehab in Camden County, or a treatment center near Philadelphia that will not force a taper of your existing prescription, this is what you need to know. Maplewood Treatment Solutions delivers evidence-based MAT inside our residential program — continuing your medication, confirming your dosage, and prescribing when clinically appropriate.
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A Clinical Tool, Not a Substitute
For decades, the recovery field treated medication and sobriety as if they had to be opposites. They never did. Medication-assisted treatment (MAT) is a clinical approach that combines FDA-approved medications with counseling, behavioral therapy, and residential care to treat opioid use disorder and alcohol use disorder.
It works. The evidence is overwhelming. And it does not replace recovery. It makes recovery possible for people whose biology has been working against them.
The persistent myth, that MAT is "trading one drug for another", has cost lives. Buprenorphine and naltrexone, when taken as prescribed in a clinical setting, do not produce a high. What they do is normalize the brain chemistry that years of opioid or alcohol use has dysregulated. Cravings quiet. Withdrawal blunts. The patient becomes able to actually engage in therapy, group work, and the life rebuilding that real recovery requires.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the American Society of Addiction Medicine, and the American Medical Association all recognize MAT as the gold standard for opioid use disorder and a powerful evidence-based option for alcohol use disorder. The clinical consensus is settled. What remains is access.
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More Than Seventy Years of Clinical Evidence
Medication-assisted treatment is not new. The first FDA-approved medication for the treatment of a substance use disorder, disulfiram, was approved in 1951. Every decade since has added another evidence-based tool. Today's MAT toolkit is the product of more than seventy years of clinical research, regulatory review, and quiet successes in patients whose recoveries depended on the medicine.
The milestones below mark FDA approval dates and major federal policy shifts that shaped how MAT is delivered in residential treatment today.
1951
Antabuse becomes the first FDA-approved medication for alcohol use disorder, creating the modern category of pharmacological addiction treatment.
1972
FDA approves methadone for opioid use disorder, restricted to federally certified Opioid Treatment Programs. Maplewood does not dispense methadone.
1984
FDA approves oral naltrexone for opioid use disorder, and later (1995) for alcohol use disorder, the first opioid-receptor antagonist for addiction treatment.
2002
FDA approves Subutex and Suboxone for opioid use disorder. The DATA Act opens office-based prescribing, a turning point for access to MAT outside specialized clinics.
2004 – 2010
Acamprosate (Campral) approved 2004 for alcohol use disorder; Vivitrol (extended-release naltrexone) approved 2006 for alcohol, then 2010 for opioid use disorder.
2023
The Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment Act of 2023 removes the X-waiver requirement, allowing any DEA-registered practitioner to prescribe buprenorphine. Access expands nationally.
Seventy years of FDA review, clinical trials, and policy refinement point to the same conclusion: medication is not a workaround for recovery. It is part of how modern medicine treats substance use disorder as the chronic condition that it is — a position now codified in SAMHSA TIP 63 and the ASAM National Practice Guideline.
Four FDA-Approved Tools for Recovery
Each medication on this list is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and is recognized as an evidence-based standard of care by SAMHSA, NIDA, and the American Society of Addiction Medicine. The right medication depends on your diagnosis, history, and clinical evaluation.
For Opioid Use Disorder
Brand names include Suboxone, Subutex, and Sublocade. A partial opioid agonist that quiets cravings and prevents withdrawal without producing a high when taken as prescribed.
For Opioid & Alcohol Use Disorders
Available as a once-monthly injection (Vivitrol) or daily oral tablet. Blocks the reinforcing effects of opioids and alcohol. Non-addictive.
For Alcohol Use Disorder
Produces a strong physical reaction if alcohol is consumed. Used as an additional layer of support in early sobriety, often paired with counseling and structured care.
For Alcohol Use Disorder
Helps stabilize brain chemistry after alcohol cessation, easing post-acute withdrawal symptoms. Used as part of a broader recovery plan.
Note: Methadone is only available at federally certified opioid treatment programs. Maplewood does not dispense methadone, but our admissions team can connect patients to appropriate methadone-prescribing providers when clinically indicated.
Pharmacology, Plain English
Each FDA-approved MAT medication works on a different part of the brain or body. Below is a plain-English look at how each one operates and what it looks like in the patient's hand. Pharmacology details are sourced from SAMHSA TIP 63, FDA prescribing information, and the NIH National Library of Medicine.
For Opioid Use Disorder
Brand names: Suboxone, Subutex, Sublocade, Zubsolv
How it works: Buprenorphine is a partial agonist at the mu-opioid receptor. It binds to the same receptors heroin, fentanyl, and prescription opioids bind to, but only partially activates them. That partial activation is enough to prevent withdrawal and quiet cravings — without producing a high when taken as prescribed. It also has a "ceiling effect," meaning that taking more does not produce more receptor activity, which is what makes buprenorphine far safer than full opioid agonists. Suboxone pairs buprenorphine with naloxone, an opioid blocker that activates only if the medication is injected, built in as a misuse deterrent.
What it looks like: Suboxone film is a small, typically orange rectangular strip that dissolves under the tongue in five to ten minutes. Sublingual tablets (Suboxone, Subutex, Zubsolv) are small round tablets, usually orange or white. Sublocade is a once-monthly subcutaneous injection administered by a clinician.
For Opioid & Alcohol Use Disorders
Brand names: Vivitrol (extended-release injection), ReVia, Depade (oral)
How it works: Naltrexone is a full opioid receptor antagonist. It sits on the opioid receptors and blocks anything else from binding, so a patient on naltrexone who uses heroin or fentanyl experiences no effect. It also reduces the reinforcing pull of alcohol through a similar mechanism in the brain's reward pathway. Unlike buprenorphine, naltrexone produces no opioid activity at all, no high, no withdrawal protection, but also no misuse potential. Starting it requires being fully opioid-free for seven to ten days to avoid precipitated withdrawal, which is one reason initiation is often easier inside residential treatment.
What it looks like: Vivitrol is a once-monthly intramuscular injection given into the gluteal muscle, prepared by a clinician at administration. Oral naltrexone is a small, round, yellow or off-white tablet (typically 50 mg), taken once daily by mouth.
For Alcohol Use Disorder
Brand name: Antabuse
How it works: Disulfiram blocks the liver enzyme aldehyde dehydrogenase. Normally, alcohol breaks down into acetaldehyde and then quickly into acetate. With disulfiram on board, acetaldehyde accumulates instead, producing severe flushing, nausea, vomiting, racing heart, headache, and chest pain within ten to thirty minutes of drinking. The reaction is unpleasant enough to function as a powerful deterrent. For many patients in early recovery, the structure of knowing the reaction could happen is genuinely useful, particularly when paired with therapy and group support.
What it looks like: A white, round tablet (250 mg or 500 mg), taken once daily by mouth. Patients are also counseled to avoid hidden alcohol in cough syrups, mouthwash, hand sanitizer, and certain skin products to prevent unintentional reactions.
For Alcohol Use Disorder
Brand name: Campral
How it works: Acamprosate modulates the glutamate and GABA neurotransmitter systems that chronic alcohol use disrupts. Specifically, it is thought to reduce overactivity of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors, receptors that get persistently elevated in post-acute alcohol withdrawal. The clinical effect is a reduction in the lingering anxiety, restlessness, sleep disturbance, and dysphoria that often drive relapse in the weeks after acute detox is complete.
What it looks like: A round, white, enteric-coated tablet (333 mg per tablet), taken three times daily, two tablets per dose, six tablets per day total. The dosing schedule is one of acamprosate's main challenges; case management and pill organizers help patients adhere consistently after discharge.
For Patients Who Have Tried Before
For a lot of patients who arrive at residential treatment, this is not the first time. Maybe it is the third. Maybe the tenth. Recovery has come and gone before — sometimes for months, sometimes for years — and the relapse that brought them back was disorienting and exhausting in a way that most outsiders do not fully see.
If that describes you or someone you love, here is what the clinical literature consistently shows: past relapses are not a moral signal. They are a clinical signal.
01
Chronic substance use changes the brain's reward pathway, stress response, and decision-making circuits. These changes can take months or years to reset. The National Institute on Drug Abuse classifies substance use disorder as a chronic brain disease for exactly this reason. Cravings are not the patient failing willpower — they are the predictable result of how the brain has adapted to long-term substance exposure.
02
Buprenorphine quiets opioid receptors. Naltrexone blocks reinforcement. Disulfiram creates a meaningful chemical deterrent. Acamprosate calms the post-acute withdrawal that drives so many relapses. None of these are crutches. They are the same kind of medical intervention used for every other chronic condition — diabetes, hypertension, depression. The clinical consensus from SAMHSA, NIDA, and ASAM is unambiguous: MAT is the standard of care for opioid and alcohol use disorders.
03
When cravings are quiet, group sessions become possible. When the brain is not begging for the next dose, the patient can sit with feelings instead of running from them. When post-acute withdrawal calms, sleep returns. MAT does not replace recovery. It makes recovery work possible. Combined with individual therapy, dual diagnosis care, and the broader residential structure at Maplewood, MAT is one part of an integrated plan — not a shortcut and not the whole answer.
For patients with histories of trying — and trying, and trying — MAT often makes the difference between this attempt and every previous one. That is not failure showing up. That is medicine catching up to what addiction researchers have known for decades.
Continuation, Confirmation, Prescription
Almost every patient who comes through our doors falls into one of three scenarios. We treat each one with the same clinical respect and the same goal, your medication is part of your treatment plan, not a barrier to it.
The most common scenario. Bring your medication in its original pharmacy bottle and your prescriber's contact information. Our clinical team continues your prescription through the residential stay. No taper unless clinically indicated and discussed with you. No "detox off it first" speech.
Some patients come in on a dose titrated months or years ago, with no recent clinical review. Our providers confirm the dosage clinically, adjusting up or down based on cravings, withdrawal symptoms, side effects, and the broader picture. Adjustments happen in conversation with you.
If you are coming in with active opioid use disorder or alcohol use disorder, our providers can prescribe and initiate buprenorphine, naltrexone, Vivitrol, disulfiram, or acamprosate during your residential stay. The decision is clinical, individualized, and made with you. Not every patient needs MAT. Some benefit enormously.
In every pathway, MAT is integrated with individual therapy, dual diagnosis care, group programming, case management, and discharge planning. Medication does not exist on a separate track at Maplewood.
The Research Is Settled
The clinical literature on MAT is among the most robust in addiction medicine. A few headline findings from the federal research bodies:
The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act requires most commercial insurance plans to cover MAT at parity with medical care. In practice, that means most Maplewood patients pay little to nothing out of pocket for MAT during residential treatment. Verify your benefits at no cost.
Inside the Residential Stay
Common Questions Patients & Families Ask
Medicine Is One Piece of the Plan
MAT is not the program. It is one part of the program. At Maplewood, every patient on MAT also receives the full clinical infrastructure that residential treatment provides, and every component is coordinated, not siloed.
Patients on MAT engage in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Dialectical Behavior Therapy, work with case managers on insurance and aftercare placement, attend daily group programming, participate in family sessions when clinically appropriate, and receive ongoing psychiatric review. For patients whose substance use is intertwined with anxiety, depression, PTSD, or another mental health condition, our Co-Occurring Disorders Program treats both conditions simultaneously by the same clinical team.
For more on how integrated dual diagnosis care reshapes outcomes, see our pillar guide: Why Treating Mental Health and Addiction Together Is the Only Approach That Actually Works.
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Centrally Located in South Jersey
Maplewood serves patients searching for medication-assisted treatment near Cherry Hill, Suboxone-friendly rehab in Camden County, residential programs that continue Vivitrol prescriptions, and inpatient care near Philadelphia that does not force a taper. Our Merchantville location puts us within reach of:
Visit Our Treatment Center
Maplewood Treatment Solutions is located at 214 W Maple Ave in Merchantville, NJ — minutes from Cherry Hill, Pennsauken, Camden, and the Ben Franklin Bridge into Philadelphia. Highway access via Route 38, Route 70, and the New Jersey Turnpike makes us reachable from across the region.
214 W Maple Ave, Merchantville, NJ 08109 | (856) 485-9814
Real Stories From Real People
Evidence-Based Care, Backed by National Standards
Content on this page is informed by evidence-based MAT principles and reviewed against recognized behavioral health standards from the following authoritative bodies:
Clinically Reviewed By
This page is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. MAT decisions are individualized based on clinical evaluation. Maplewood Treatment Solutions is Joint Commission accredited and LegitScript certified. Last reviewed: May 2026.
Begin Admissions
If you are currently on Suboxone, Vivitrol, naltrexone, or another MAT medication and looking for residential treatment in South Jersey, near Philadelphia, or anywhere across Cherry Hill, Marlton, Voorhees, or Camden County — call us. Our admissions team continues medications, confirms dosages, and prescribes when clinically appropriate. Calls are confidential and answered 24/7.
