EMARGOED UNTIL 6:00 AM:
Contact: Bob Weiner/Rafael Lemaitre 202-395-6618
Wednesday January 17, 2001
ACTING WHITE HOUSE DRUG POLICY DIRECTOR COMMENDS HHS ON ANNOUNCMENT OF NEW FEDERAL REGULATIONS IMPROVING METHADONE TREATMENT
(Washington, DC)—Edward H. Jurith, Acting Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, applauded the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the Center for Substance Abuse (CSAT) of the Department of Health and Human Services' issuance of new federal regulations improving methadone treatment.
"The new regulations will improve the quality and oversight of narcotics treatment programs that use methadone and other medication to treat heroin and other opiate
addictions," stated Jurith. The regulations will:
- Shift federal oversight of methadone treatment programs from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to the Department of Health and Human Service's Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) in order to provide a medical rather than bureaucratic basis for decisions
- Allow health care professionals, including physicians, to treat patients based on their individual needs as a medical matter rather than through the current impersonal pre-established standards
- Develop accreditation standards and accountability of narcotic addiction treatment programs
Acting Director Jurith continued, "These new clinical guidelines are a major step forward. They will substantially and fundamentally reform the federal government's role in assuring that methadone treatment programs are both effective and accountable for results. These new regulations will improve the quality of methadone treatment and make it more accessible.
"This is a fundamental shift in the way we approach addiction treatment in our nation. Doctors and other health care professionals will assure the appropriate dosage based on the best medical care for patients, with standards developed by SAMHSA's Center for Substance Abuse Treatment.
"Research provides strong evidence to support methadone maintenance as the most effective treatment for heroin addiction. Without methadone programs, many of the nation's 980,000 heroin addicts would be back on the streets, back on drugs, and back on public assistance, at an enormous cost to society."
