Will Congress Finally X-Out the " X " Waiver?

Members of Congress are growing more appreciative of the benefits of Medication Assisted Treatment in addressing the overdose crisis. Two bills presently under consideration —one in the Senate and one in the House—are the latest evidence of that awareness. Medication Assisted Treatment for opioid use disorder is one of the most widely-accepted and least controversial of the tools in the  harm reduction tool box. The strategy involves placing the patient on an orally-administered opioid that binds with enough opioid receptors to prevent painful withdrawal symptoms while, at the same time, not producing cognitive impairment or euphoria. The approach has been around since the 1960s and has greatly reduced overdose deaths as well as the spread of deadly infections from dirty needles.One of the oldest and most well-known examples of MAT uses the synthetic opioid methadone, which is classified by the Drug Enforcement Administration as  Schedule II (known medical use with a high potential for abuse or dependence). A more recent form of MAT uses the Schedule III opioid buprenorphine. Schedule III drugs have less potential for dependence or abuse than those in Schedule II. Like methadone, buprenorphine is permitted to be prescribed for the tre atment of pain, but not for MAT without obtaining DEA permission.As I have written  here, federal policy regarding methadone MAT makes no sense. Health care practitioners have been permitted to prescribe methadone in oral or non-oral f...

Source: Cato-at-liberty - July 16, 2019 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs