The Pew Charitable Trusts’ substance use prevention and treatment initiative submitted a letter to U.S. congressional leaders on April 8 asking them to support the Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment Act (H.R. 2482 and S. 2074).
As the coronavirus pandemic overwhelms the nation’s primary care and hospital systems in many places, access to treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD) has become increasingly limited. This bipartisan legislation would remove federal rules established by the Drug Addiction Treatment Act in 2000 that require health care practitioners to obtain a waiver from the Drug Enforcement Administration before prescribing buprenorphine.
Buprenorphine is the only medication approved by the Food and Drug Administration for OUD that can be prescribed without a visit to a doctor or treatment facility. For the roughly 2 million Americans who met criteria for OUD in the past year, this legislation will help expand access to life-saving care in the safety of their homes.