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.