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Addiction Treatment Forum reports on substance use news of interest to opioid treatment programs and patients in medication-assisted treatment.

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Addiction Treatment Forum provides news for opioid treatment programs and their patients. OTPs offer comprehensive care, including the three federally approved medications for opioid use disorder: methadone, buprenorphine, and naltrexone.

Thank you Hikma!

January 16, 2023

For two years, Hikma Pharmaceuticals generously funded AT Forum. That funding ended at the end…

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Are OTPs cartels? Congressman Norcross says they are

Alison Knopf
March 21, 2023

The rhetoric against methadone has reached stunning levels. When Representative Donald Norcross (D-New Jersey) joined the other congressional sponsors of the Modernizing Opioid Treatment Access Act this month, his press statement referred to the opioid treatment program (OTP) model as a “cartel.” The proposed legislation would, like the OTAA proposed last year (see https://atforum.com/2022/11/otp-pressure-) make…

Continue Reading Are OTPs cartels? Congressman Norcross says they are

telehealth

DEA proposes permanent telemedicine flexibilities for buprenorphine and controlled substances

Alison Knopf
March 1, 2023

On February 24, Drug Enforcement Administration announced proposed permanent rules for the prescribing of controlled medications via telemedicine, expanding patient access to critical therapies beyond the scheduled end of the COVID-19 public health emergency. The public will be able to comment for 30 days on the proposed rules. The proposed rules – developed with the U.S.…

Continue Reading DEA proposes permanent telemedicine flexibilities for buprenorphine and controlled substances

Review: Hmmm… Methadone or Bupe for OUD? Or … LSD or THC?

Barbara Goodheart, ELS
February 20, 2023

As the tragic consequences of the opioid epidemic continue to mount, some experts are focusing on a creative new approach to treating opioid use disorder (OUD). At a planning meeting held in November 2019, experts met to consider strategies for evaluating medications that have not yet been used to treat OUD. Sponsoring the meeting was…

Continue Reading Review: Hmmm… Methadone or Bupe for OUD? Or … LSD or THC?

Update on Alabama

Alison Knopf
February 10, 2023

Our recent articles on two opioid treatment programs (OTPs) in Alabama — Shelby County Treatment Center and Chilton County Treatment Center – which reported police harassment of methadone patients, produced results. According to owner and director Susan Susan Staats-Combs, after she posted the articles all over town, the harassment abruptly stopped. Kudos to the power of the press.…

Continue Reading Update on Alabama

Email from Staats-Combs to Clanton Mayor, Chilton County law enforcement

Alison Knopf
January 20, 2023

 For almost thirty years, I have diligently been working to help Alabama with the Opioid crisis. I continue to serve on the Alabama Governor’s Opioid Council (past and present Governors) and co-serve on the National Boards related to treatment. I also take great pride in serving on the “National Stop Stigma Now” Board with leading experts in the field…

Continue Reading Email from Staats-Combs to Clanton Mayor, Chilton County law enforcement

NIMBY in full force in Alabama

Alison Knopf
January 19, 2023

This story should be subtitled “Still crazy in Alabama.” Here’s this report from Susan Staats -Combs, owner and director of Shelby County Treatment Center and Chilton County Treatment Center, two opioid treatment programs (OTPs) in Alabama. “At one point in history, you could see discrimination all over the web,” she recounted recently, referring to discrimination against methadone patients and…

Continue Reading NIMBY in full force in Alabama

Next steps for OTPs: Three executives on their vision for the future

Alison Knopf
January 12, 2023

Moving forward in 2023, with a huge proposed rulemaking change for opioid treatment programs (OTPs) (see https://atforum.com/2022/12/samhsa-proposal-update-methadone-regulations/), AT Forum talked to three executives – Megan Marx, director of integrated care at Oregon Recovery and Treatment Centers in Parker, Oregon; Jason Kletter, Ph.D., president of Baymark Health Services, based in Lewisville, Texas; and Nick Stavros,. CEO…

Continue Reading Next steps for OTPs: Three executives on their vision for the future

New kind of OTP: Integrated treatment with medications and more under one roof

Alison Knopf
January 7, 2023

Last month in New York, a new kind of opioid treatment program (OTP) opened. It is operated by Outreach Development Corporation and will be open 6 days a week, serving patients on Long Island. A one-time grant of $206,000 from federal funding administered by the New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports (OASAS),…

Continue Reading New kind of OTP: Integrated treatment with medications and more under one roof

Massive spending bill includes huge changes for SUD field: No more x-waiver, increases for treatment

Alison Knopf
December 23, 2022

Some people called it “something for everyone.” Others just said “at last.” The spending bill approved by Congress December 23 eliminates the x-waiver for prescribing buprenorphine for opioid use disorder, something that the field at large had been calling for for years. Who did not want this: OTPs, because it makes it much easier for…

Continue Reading Massive spending bill includes huge changes for SUD field: No more x-waiver, increases for treatment

SAMHSA proposal to update methadone regulations: Welcome news for OTPs and patients

Alison Knopf
December 19, 2022

On December 13, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through its Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), proposed to expand access to treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD). This is very good news for patients, providers, and other stakeholders. Here is the informational statement from SAMHSA. At the end of the article, find more comments from stakeholders.…

Continue Reading SAMHSA proposal to update methadone regulations: Welcome news for OTPs and patients

Lived Experience: A Refreshing New Voice

Barbara Goodheart, ELS
December 16, 2022

There’s a refreshing new voice in the addiction field—a voice that doesn’t always sing the establishment song, and is not afraid to question widely held beliefs. The new voice is Kirsten E. Smith, PhD, postdoctoral fellow in the Intramural Research Program at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Her latest publication, “Disease and Decision,”…

Continue Reading Lived Experience: A Refreshing New Voice

AMERSA report OTP medical director discusses possibility of psychosis as a result of rapid methadone taper

Alison Knopf
December 7, 2022

At last month’s annual meeting of AMERSA, a standing-room-only workshop gave a close-up look at what can happen when an opioid treatment program (OTP) tapers a patient too quickly from methadone. The result, in the case discussed, was psychosis. “The only tapers I thought would happen were voluntary, very slow,” she said. The focus would…

Continue Reading AMERSA report OTP medical director discusses possibility of psychosis as a result of rapid methadone taper

methadone

First-of-a-kind OTP census shows vast majority of patients treated with methadone

Alison Knopf
December 5, 2022

Today an extraordinary project conducted by the National Association for State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors (NASADAD) and the American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence (AATOD) revealed how many programs and patients are in Opioid Treatment Programs (OTPs). All 1,826 OTPs were surveyed; the response rate was 85%. From that response, the census…

Continue Reading First-of-a-kind OTP census shows vast majority of patients treated with methadone

Benzodiazepines

Study: OTP Retention Unaffected by Benzodiazepines

Barbara Goodheart, ELS
December 1, 2022

In the setting of open-access opioid treatment programs (OTPs), the authors of this study in Drug and Alcohol Dependence sought to determine if patients with benzodiazepine exposure at study entry would have retention rates similar to those without benzodiazepine exposure. Comparing the retention rate for the two groups, the authors found that baseline benzodiazepine exposure…

Continue Reading Study: OTP Retention Unaffected by Benzodiazepines

OTPs facing increasing pressure from supporters of OTAA

Alison Knopf
November 22, 2022

The Opioid Treatment Access Act (OTAA) would allow non-opioid-treatment-provider (OTP) physicians with training in addiction to prescribe methadone for opioid use disorder (OUD). This is from Section 4, the highly contested OTAA provision, which the big proprietary OTPs oppose (see the recently launched https://programnotapill.com/) but which some of the smaller ones are in favor of. Leave…

Continue Reading OTPs facing increasing pressure from supporters of OTAA

Part 3: Methadone in Rhode Island corrections, the psychology of working with another discipline

Alison Knopf
November 21, 2022

Getting methadone in prison: It takes work When a correctional system entertains the idea of something established medicine accepts as gold standard – namely, medication-assisted treatment (MAT) with methadone or buprenorphine for opioid use disorder (OUT) – there is an uphill battle ahead, even for those within the system who believe in it. In Rhode…

Continue Reading Part 3: Methadone in Rhode Island corrections, the psychology of working with another discipline

Mythbusting on AATOD and methadone/buprenorphine bills

Alison Knopf
November 10, 2022

The American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence (AATOD) and Opioid Treatment Programs (OTPs) have been at the forefront of trying to reform methadone treatment, always with an eye on patient safety and quality treatment, also while making treatment more accessible. But, as AATOD president Mark Parrino puts it, it’s important to ask “Access…

Continue Reading Mythbusting on AATOD and methadone/buprenorphine bills

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