Audit perpetuates addiction stigma

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported the average life expectancy of Americans continued a three-year decline driven by deaths from overdoses. The rate of overdose deaths involving

opioids other than methadone increased by 45 percent from 2016 to 2017.

Opioid treatment programs are on the front lines providing lifesaving medication-assisted treatment including all three U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved medications for opioid-use disorder. Unfortunately, only three out of 10 survivors of an overdose receive follow-up treatment with medication. A June 2018 study in the Annals of Internal Medicine found a 60 percent lower death rate for survivors who received methadone. Opioid treatment programs save lives every day.

A recent audit by the state comptroller’s office of opioid treatment programs as they pertain to Internet System for Tracking Over-prescribing is misleading and poorly conceived. It finds opioid treatment programs are not checking I-STOP every time take-home medication is dispensed but ignores that there is no evidence whatsoever for this practice in opioid treatment programs. In contrast, opioid treatment programs adhere to meaningful federal standards and follow established policies and procedures, checking I-STOP to ensure patient safety and to coordinate care with other providers. More than 41,000 people receive treatment at opioid treatment programs in New York state yet the audit used a sample of 25 patients. In no other research capacity would this sample size be adequate.

This report disparages an entire field based on incomplete information and perpetuates the existing stigma of addiction. New York is in the middle of a deadly epidemic and government should be working to increase access to effective treatment, not creating more barriers.

Allegra schorr New York City President, Coalition of Medication Assisted Treatment