State and federal rulemaking hampers opioid treatment, study finds

What they found: 19 states and the District of Columbia require a certificate of need to open a new facility that can dispense methadone, and experts say is critical to reducing overdose deaths.

• 16 states require opioid treatment programs to have a pharmacy license or registration.
• Every state except South Dakota and Massachusetts allows programs to terminate a person if they use drugs while receiving treatment, despite federal guidelines and research recommending against this.
• Federal guidelines require eight drug tests per year as a part of methadone treatment, but 26 states require more than the federally-required amount.

Despite opioid dispensing rates decreasing in the last decade, the painkillers still play a role in many overdose deaths; in 2020, opioids were involved in 68,630 such fatalities, per the CDC.

• The majority of people needing treatment for opioid-use disorder don't get it, and if pandemic-era reforms expire, it's possible even more people will lose access.