Addiction Treatment Forum reports on substance use news of interest to opioid treatment programs and patients in medication-assisted treatment.
Study: Long-term Abstinence Restores Impaired Brain Function and Structure in Patients With Heroin Use Disorder, but Questions Remain
When Agatha Christie’s famous Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, attributed his investigative success to “the little grey cells”—components of the brain’s grey matter—he may well have been correct. He usually was. Today, neuroscientists delving into the comparatively neglected “other half of the brain” are defining the highly important roles of white matter. They’ve found that in…
DOJ Issues Guidance Underscoring ADA Protections for People Taking Methadone or Buprenorphine
The federal Department of Justice has ordered repeatedly that people in treatment or recovery on medications to treat opioid use disorder are protected by the Americans with Disability Act (ADA). This spring, the federal government issued guidance specifying this, and noting that entities covered by the ADA include the workplace, healthcare organizations, and the criminal…
Expanding Access to Methadone Treatment
A recent article based on the two-day methadone workshop by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine distills several of the messages of that workshop: extending take-home flexibilities and allowing physician prescribing are two of the top ones (for more on that workshop, see https://atforum.com/2022/03/nasem-methadone-expand-access-primary-care/). The report, published in Health Affairs May 27, is…
AT Forum Newsletter – Recent Articles
AATOD: No Pharmacy Dispensing of Methadone, Except for Stable Patients Currently in OTPs
In a policy document on “Methadone Reform” updated this spring by the American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence (AATOD), the organization has clearly noted that dosing in the clinic is associated with improved treatment retention, and that pharmacy distribution has been linked to diversion and to concomitant getting rid of methadone as a…
Why 8 Milligrams of Naloxone Should be Given in all Opioid ODS, STAT: Fentanyl
In the era of illicit fentanyl, multiple doses of naloxone are sometimes needed to reverse opioid overdoses, a recent literature review published in Substance Abuse has confirmed. Reports of the need for multiple doses of the 2-mg version have long been noticed by first responders, and the article confirms those reports. However, giving someone one…
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Study: “Just Give Them a Choice!”—What Patients Think About Starting Buprenorphine or Methadone in the ED
Emergency department (ED) clinicians could start patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) on the road to life-saving recovery by beginning buprenorphine treatment during an ED visit. But many patients aren’t given a prescription when they leave the ED. Why is this? Research on treating OUD in the ED has tended to focus on clinician-reported barriers,…
APA Meeting to Feature New President Discussing Buprenorphine
The American Psychiatric Association annual meeting, gathering live for the first time since 2019, will be in New Orleans May 21-25. The first sold-out session was a day-long seminar on treating opioid use disorder (OUD) with buprenorphine, conducted by new APA president Petros Levounis, M.D., an addiction medicine physician, and colleagues. Levounis is professor and…
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On track for major changes: SAMHSA programs
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is in the middle of a Congressional move to change it. On May 6, Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D–NJ) and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R–Wash.), chairman and ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, released proposed legislation that would reauthorize the agency and revamp…
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Mobile methadone in New York
The unrolling story of methadone vans in New York is being enthusiastically assisted by Allegra Schorr. She heads the Coalition of Medication-Assisted Treatment Providers and Advocates (COMPA). COMPA represents New York State’s opioid treatment programs (OTPs) which are focused on making methadone more accessible to more patients. We talked to Schorr earlier this month about…
