PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Medically-assisted treatment for opioid addiction should become much more accessible, under a new rule announced Monday by Biden administration officials in Atlantic City.
The rule change would streamline the process for registering mobile units that use methadone to treat addiction.
The Drug Enforcement Agency has not licensed a mobile methadone unit since 2007, despite studies showing that the units are highly effective for addiction treatment, especially in rural areas where there may not be many other alternatives.
Former Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine, now an assistant secretary in the Department of Health and Human Services, said the new rule will change that.
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“DEA’s new rule will streamline the registration process to make it easier for registrants to provide needed services to underserved parts of the country," said Levine.
She noted that nearly 93,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in the last year, the largest number the country has ever recorded. She said the rule change is just one step the Biden administration is taking to address the problem.
“This alarming increase in overdose deaths underlines the need for more accessible treatment services, and studies have clearly shown that medication-based treatment supports long term recovery," she added.
The officials made the announcement in Atlantic City because it has one of the few remaining mobile methadone vans still in service.
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