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Consultation Document on Opioid Agonist Treatment

5. Outcomes:

Methadone treatment is a lynchpin of modern opiate addiction treatment, and it must be more widely available to those who need it.

A. Desired End State:

(1) Adequate methadone treatment capacity for all of America's opiate drug addicts for whom it is indicated by assessment.

(2) Sufficient abstinence-based treatment capacity to accommodate progressive cessation of methadone when appropriate as well as sufficient methadone treatment capacity for those who may require long-term treatment.

(3) A comprehensive evaluation and accreditation system to continue to ensure the effectiveness of methadone treatment.

B. Intermediate:

(1) Wider public, community, and medical understanding and acceptance of the efficacy of methadone in treatment.

(2) Development of rational rules governing access to methadone to allow methadone administration, where clinically warranted, in the offices of trained and accredited physicians.

(3) Development and utilization of a field-tested accreditation system for methadone treatment programs with transfer of regulatory oversight from FDA to SAMHSA.

C. Immediate:

(1) Testing and evaluation of newly developed accreditation standards.

(2) Discussion of the role of both short- and long-term methadone treatment programs and a future strategy for expanding treatment capacity for opiate drug addicts in the drug treatment and medical communities.




Last Updated: March 4, 2002