Methadone has been known to be an effective treatment for opioid addiction and dependency since the 1960s. Unfortunately, in this country, since 1972, the federal government segregates people with opioid use disorder from people with other health conditions that doctors treat in their offices by requiring them to travel miles each day to take a daily dose of methadone at government-approved clinics. Congress may soon undertake the first serious reform in how people get methadone in more than a half-century.
opioid use disorder
Hardly a day goes by when the "opioid crisis" doesn't make the news. But as you'll see, alcohol causes far more damage in terms of addiction, health problems, deaths, and economic impact yet is rarely mentioned. Why the discrepancy? It just doesn't add up.
Since the CDC, DEA, and Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing have become experts in dispensing prescription drugs, why stop there? Well, in Massachusetts, it didn't stop there. Judges were dictating specific medications to help addicts recover. Judges? Who's quoted in the article? Andrew Kolodny, of course. Why?
Fentanyl washed upon our shores several decades ago, as China White. Today, the fentanyl market has more of a Breaking Bad vibe. A thorough study by the Rand Corporation suggests that fentanyl is a whole quantum different from the opioid crisis narrative.