Episode Details

Methadone is a gold star treatment for opioid use disorder but it’s heavily regulated at the federal level, making it hard for patients to get and even harder for doctors to prescribe. Dr. Brian Hurley, president of the American Society of Addiction Medicine, talks with Lindsay Smith Rogers about the process of getting methadone, how its regulatory roots in legislation from the 1970s contribute to its stigma, and what’s being done and what more could be done to streamline prescribing so that the patients who need the life-saving medication can actually get it.