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.
Stop Stigma Now at CCSAD
We are pleased to see Stop Stigma Now exhibiting at the Cape Cod Symposium on Addictive Disorders, held in Hyannis, Massachusetts. We stopped by to chat with Sy Demsky and Bob Lubran, who were hoping to get the attention of the normally abstinence-focused crowd at the annual conference. In fact, even Brixadi (buprenorphine) had a…
Why liquid methadone is preferred by OTPs, and how it’s used
A recent story in Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly focused on the reasons that more than 90% of opioid treatment programs use methadone, mainly liquid methadone, and how this formulation could not be practical in an office-based or pharmacy setting. For the story, go to https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adaw.33873 Excerpts: “For pharmacy dispensing, they would need a safe,”…
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SAMHSA Awards $57.6 Million to Connect Americans to Substance Use Recovery and Treatment Supports
On August 31, coinciding with Overdose Awareness Week and the start of National Recovery Month, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), announced that it is awarding $57.6 million in seven grant programs to connect Americans who misuse substances to recovery and treatment supports.…
Mallinckrodt announces second bankruptcy; medication distribution for OUD will not be disrupted
By Alison Knopf As in the last time Mallinckrodt filed for bankruptcy in 2020, the Dublin-based pharmaceutical company will continue to serve opioid use disorder (OUD) provider customers, including opioid treatment programs (OTPs), AT Forum has learned. The second bankruptcy, a “restructuring” like the first, was filed August 25. “Earlier this morning, we announced that Mallinckrodt…
STUDY: The First 24 Hours
Part II: What OTP Patients Say They Need on Re-Entry Part I of our two-part series appeared here in May. The source study (see citation at the end of this article) discusses events during the crucial first 24 hours when prisoners with opioid use disorder (OUD) leave jail or prison. Here, in Part II, we…
COMPA meeting focus on take-homes and more
At the June 21 Coalition of Medication-Assisted Treatment Providers and Advocates (COMPA) symposium, opoid treatment providers (OTPs) from across New York learned how the state is facilitating easier access to methadone, much of which is due to flexibilities which originated in the COVID-19 pandemic. These flexibilities include more take-home medications, which Chinazo Cunningham, M.D., the…
CODAC leadership team grows as RI OTP provider expands roles
CODAC Behavioral Healthcare, Inc. (CODAC) has announced that it has added two executive-level staff to its experienced group of professionals. Dustin Alvanas has rejoined CODAC as Chief Operating Officer. Alvanas will be responsible for the strategic operation of CODAC programming, and will supervise the clinical and operational aspects of the organization. He was also a…
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Everything you need to know about the M-OTAA
Below is an eloquent comment on the most recent proposal to “modernize” methadonetreatment, obtained by AT FORUM. Dated May 26, it is by Arlin Silberman, D.O., F.A.O.A.A.M. (afellow of the American Osteopathic Academy of Addiction Medicine) and reviews “TheModernizing Opioid Treatment Access Act (M-OTAA), H.R.1359/S. 644.” In summary, the Modernizing Opioid Treatment Access Act (M-OTAA),…
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What Really Matters is Retention in Treatment (JAMA Letters)
When evaluating a medication, researchers sometimes overlook a key factor: retention. But how meaningful are other data, if patients drop out of treatment? A study recently published in JAMA Letters used U.S. prescription data to evaluate recent trends in buprenorphine initiation and retention. A team of researchers led by Kao-Ping Chua, MD, PhD, of the University of Michigan Medical School, conducted the study. Earlier studies had examined initiation and retention rates for buprenorphine through 2020, so the time was right for…
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Massive spending bill includes huge changes for SUD field: No more x-waiver, increases for treatment
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…
SAMHSA proposal to update methadone regulations: Welcome news for OTPs and patients
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.…
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Lived Experience: A Refreshing New Voice
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,”…
AMERSA report OTP medical director discusses possibility of psychosis as a result of rapid methadone taper
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…
First-of-a-kind OTP census shows vast majority of patients treated with methadone
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…
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Study: OTP Retention Unaffected by Benzodiazepines
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…
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OTPs facing increasing pressure from supporters of OTAA
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…
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Part 3: Methadone in Rhode Island corrections, the psychology of working with another discipline
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…
Mythbusting on AATOD and methadone/buprenorphine bills
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…
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