ASAM features harm reduction, methadone, OTPs at conference

Abstract

Not surprisingly, last week'k American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) conference was sold out, with its big focus on moving methadone out of the opioid treatment program (OTP) system and into general office‐based care (preferably by only ASAM‐boarded physicians), and also considerable attention paid to the value of high‐quality treatment with methadone. A track called “Methadone in the Modern Era” included Ruth Potee, M.D., in an impassioned speech focused on the need for more access to methadone, and on the for‐profit OTPs that are out there. That track also featured Yngvild Olsen, M.D., director of the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) who talked about the other modern (aka, real world) era in which OTP regulations have been completely updated and revised. Aaron Ferguson, who said at a public conference last fall that he owed his life to diverted methadone (see https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adaw.33908) despite being a patient advocate, also presented at the conference, this time on harm reduction, which is beneficial to keeping people alive. Many OTPs, especially the large chain for‐profit OTPs, have been a target of ASAM members for years; most are also members of the American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence, and some are members of the National Association for Behavioral Healthcare.