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!
For two years, Hikma Pharmaceuticals generously funded AT Forum. That funding ended at the end…
Are OTPs cartels? Congressman Norcross says they are
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…
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DEA proposes permanent telemedicine flexibilities for buprenorphine and controlled substances
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.…
Review: Hmmm… Methadone or Bupe for OUD? Or … LSD or THC?
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
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.…
Email from Staats-Combs to Clanton Mayor, Chilton County law enforcement
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…
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NIMBY in full force in Alabama
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…
Next steps for OTPs: Three executives on their vision for the future
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…
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New kind of OTP: Integrated treatment with medications and more under one roof
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),…
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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…
Continue Reading First-of-a-kind OTP census shows vast majority of patients treated with methadone
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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