Featuring

• [Moderator] Jessica Shortall, Safer From Harm Coalition, R Street Institute

• Rachel Simon, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor, Medicine, New York University Grossman School of Medicine; Primary Care and Addiction Medicine Physician, Bellevue Hospital Opioid Treatment Program

• Abby Coulter, Methadone Patient Advocate and Reform Specialist; Founder, Medication Assisted Treatment Support & Awareness (MATSA)

Overview

Most people who use drugs also smoke tobacco. Only 12 percent of U.S. adults smoke cigarettes, while more than 75 percent of people with opioid use disorder smoke. Tobacco-related disease causes more deaths among people who use drugs than drug use itself: More than half of people in treatment for substance use disorder will die from tobacco-related disease. And quitting smoking is exceedingly difficult, especially for people who use drugs.

Despite the pressing need for novel approaches to reduce the harms of tobacco use among people who use drugs, tobacco harm reduction—including switching to lower-risk consumer products like e-cigarettes—has not been widely adopted by clinicians and practitioners.

But today, some clinicians and practitioners who work with people who use drugs are integrating patient-centered tobacco harm reduction into their approaches. This panel will showcase two such people, who will discuss the current evidence about reduced-risk nicotine products, how they decide whether or when to explore tobacco harm reduction with patients and clients, and how people who use drugs respond to these concepts.

Featuring

• [Moderator] Chelsea Boyd, Resident Research Fellow, Integrated Harm Reduction, R Street Institute

• Toni Newman, Director, Coalition for Justice and Equality Across Movements, and Acting Director, Training Center to End the Epidemic, NMAC

• Sen. Megan Hunt, Nebraska Unicameral Legislature

• Katherine Wells, Director of Public Health, City of Lubbock, Texas

Overview:

How can we persuade the public and reluctant policymakers to continue the work to end the domestic HIV epidemic? The federal goal of 90 percent reduction of new HIV infections in the United States by 2030 cannot be achieved without increased focus on communities that are most at risk. But this unevenly distributed risk can lead to an “it won’t happen to me” mindset and to deprioritization of the issue among the general population and policymakers. Join us for a conversation with people on the frontlines of the work to end the HIV epidemic. We’ll hear how they persuade skeptical audiences that HIV still matters and why prioritizing populations most vulnerable to HIV infection results in good outcomes for all of us. 

Featuring:

• [Moderator] Stacey McKenna, Resident Senior Fellow, Integrated Harm Reduction, R Street Institute

• Aaron Ferguson, Regional Outreach Manager, Community Medical Centers (an opioid treatment program)

• Dr. Sam Manages, Medical Director and Behavioral Health and Addiction Physician, Pines Health Services

• Dr. Paul Joudrey, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Center for Research on Health Care, University of Pittsburgh

• Noa Krawczyk, Assistant Professor, Department of Population Health, NYU Grossman School of Medicine

Overview:

How should the public and policymakers view methadone—and methadone diversion—in the context of the larger overdose crisis?

Methadone is a “gold standard” treatment for long-term opioid use disorder (OUD), with proven, lifesaving success rates greater than non-medication treatment options. But it is highly regulated, with myriad barriers to access that prevent many people from pursuing treatment. As the national conversation on expanding methadone access gets louder, we must separate fact from fiction. 

Congress is currently considering legislation to decrease methadone regulation. Opponents say these efforts will increase diversion—the sharing or sale of methadone to a person to whom it was not prescribed—and view this risk as a reason not to change the status quo. However, many experts in OUD believe methadone diversion happens precisely because people can’t access the medication through formal channels. In this panel, several such experts will argue that diversion concerns must be balanced against the significant potential for methadone to save more lives, make communities safer, and help more people regain control of their lives through long-term recovery.