An August 7 story by NBC news entitled “Once feared, illicit fentanyl is now a drug of choice for many opioid users,” focused on the need for higher doses of opioid agonists to treat these patients, as well as higher doses of naloxone to reverse overdoses. Fentanyl is a very potent opioid, and illicit opioid…

Continue Reading Higher doses of methadone, buprenorphine, and naloxone called for in fentanyl era

CODAC Behavioral Healthcare has a new methadone van. The van, the first approved in the country under new federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) rules (see https://atforum.com/2021/07/dea-methadone-vans-otps/) Under those rules, methadone can be dispensed by the vans if the vans are connected to brick-and-mortar opioid treatment programs (OTPs). CODAC, based in Rhode Island, is on the…

Continue Reading New methadone van from CODAC: First approved under new DEA rules

Many patients seeking help for a health-related crisis are relieved to learn that their new caregiver has had a similar experience—especially when it’s treatment for a substance use disorder (SUD). As patients face stigma and other barriers, empathy from a caregiver with shared experiences can help keep them in treatment while they receive medication for…

Continue Reading Study: Peer Caregivers Help Patients Counteract Stigma Barrier

A new report based on death data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stopped short of saying that the liberalized take-home policies for methadone instituted in March 2020 were “safe,” but did say that the policy did not result in an increase in overdose deaths. The study, published July 13 as a…

Continue Reading Liberalized take-homes did not result in increase in OD deaths

The big news in NY is methadone in prisons, but who will bid? Attendees of the Coalition of Medication-Assisted Treatment Providers and Advocates (COMPA) methadone symposium held last month at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center in New York City were told that this fall’s debut of required methadone, buprenorphine, and naltrexone in…

Continue Reading Methadone reform in NY: Part 2

COMPA symposium highlights issues of concern to NY OTPs on brink of expansion Methadone reform is taking place in New York, which can serve as a model for other states. The first thing that happened was reimbursement for take-homes. The next was methadone vans. And this fall, a new law requiring prisons and local jails…

Continue Reading Methadone reform in NY: Part 1

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…

Continue Reading Study: Long-term Abstinence Restores Impaired Brain Function and Structure in Patients With Heroin Use Disorder, but Questions Remain

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…

Continue Reading DOJ Issues Guidance Underscoring ADA Protections for People Taking Methadone or Buprenorphine

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…

Continue Reading Expanding Access to Methadone Treatment