To: Robert W. Patterson, Acting Administrator for the Drug Enforcement Administration
Tell The DEA To Approve The Use Of Mobile Methadone Units So At-Risk Communities Can Fight The Op...
Both rural and urban communities need help fighting the opioid epidemic. The Drug Enforcement Administration must approve the use of mobile methadone units to ensure Americans addicted to opioid painkillers or heroin have access to effective treatments.
Why is this important?
The opioid epidemic is killing more than a hundred Americans every day.
More than 2 million Americans are addicted to opioid painkillers or heroin, but only 1 in 5 is receiving treatment for their disorder, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
Mobile methadone treatment vans have been serving people with opioid addiction in rural towns and underserved inner-city neighborhoods for nearly three decades. Equipped with a bathroom and private counseling rooms, the vans offer low-income residents drug screenings, addiction assessments, and counseling.
For many, methadone is an effective addiction medicine that successfully reduces drug cravings and wards off relapse. It is, unfortunately, out of reach of the many who live far from America's approximately 1,500 dispensing locations.
Communities need more of these mobile units and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, which regulates dispensing of the FDA-approved addiction medicine, has refused to license any new methadone vans since 2007.
That’s why state and local addiction agencies and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) have requested DEA to rescind the ban. However, the DEA has failed to act.
Together, we can ensure that the Drug Enforcement Administration approves the use of mobile methadone units.
More than 2 million Americans are addicted to opioid painkillers or heroin, but only 1 in 5 is receiving treatment for their disorder, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
Mobile methadone treatment vans have been serving people with opioid addiction in rural towns and underserved inner-city neighborhoods for nearly three decades. Equipped with a bathroom and private counseling rooms, the vans offer low-income residents drug screenings, addiction assessments, and counseling.
For many, methadone is an effective addiction medicine that successfully reduces drug cravings and wards off relapse. It is, unfortunately, out of reach of the many who live far from America's approximately 1,500 dispensing locations.
Communities need more of these mobile units and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, which regulates dispensing of the FDA-approved addiction medicine, has refused to license any new methadone vans since 2007.
That’s why state and local addiction agencies and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) have requested DEA to rescind the ban. However, the DEA has failed to act.
Together, we can ensure that the Drug Enforcement Administration approves the use of mobile methadone units.