Kent on OTPs and new regulations: Promise for the future

Abstract

“The new rules will help opioid treatment programs,” said Rob Kent, former counsel for the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and the New York state Office of Addiction Services and Supports (OASAS), now a consultant, in an interview with ADAW last month. He was referring to the SAMHSA [Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration] proposed regulations to modernize methadone treatment (see https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adaw.33643), which have nothing to do with the proposed bills to allow office‐based physicians to prescribe methadone to people with opioid use disorder (see https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adaw.33720). In fact, Kent said he supports making methadone treatment easier to access, but has concerns about the proposals, supported by the American Society of Addiction Medicine and almost all other medical societies, to allow patients to be treated outside of the OTP [opioid treatment program].