Opinion: Inflexible methadone regulations impede America’s efforts to reduce overdose deaths

STAT December 22, 2021
Paul J. Joudrey and Adam J. Gordon

Imagine if people who needed insulin to control their diabetes had to trek across town each day to receive this lifesaving drug at an insulin clinic — with no accommodations for work or family obligations — an approach justified because they can’t be trusted to administer insulin correctly and avoid life-threatening episodes of low-blood sugar.

Not in America you might say.

But such paternalism is a reality for hundreds of thousands of Americans using methadone to treat opioid addiction and live a healthy life. By law, they can get methadone only by attending a special — usually isolated — clinic which may interfere with other steps important for recovery, like childcare or employment.

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