Two senators are renewing their push to greatly expand access to methadone treatment for opioid addiction.
On Thursday, Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) are introducing an updated version of legislation that would allow doctors who hold board certifications in addiction medicine to prescribe methadone directly to patients for pickup at a pharmacy.
Currently, methadone is available as an addiction treatment only at roughly 2,000 specialty clinics. Many of those programs have required patients to attend the clinic each day in person to receive their methadone dose. Federal reforms enacted in 2024 have allowed those facilities, known as opioid treatment programs (OTPs), to exercise more flexibility with patients, though it remains unclear how meaningfully patients’ experience has changed in recent years.
Markey first introduced the legislation in 2023. The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions approved the bill on a bipartisan basis in December of that year, though it never received a full Senate vote, and the bill failed to gain traction in the House of Representatives.
“For too long, we have kept methadone — an evidence-based, life-saving medication — locked away, far from many of the people who need it,” Markey said in a statement to STAT. “The ‘Modernizing Opioid Treatment Access Act 2.0’ would take a carefully considered step forward in expanding access to this medication by allowing the most highly trained addiction physicians in the country to prescribe methadone for their patients to pick up at a pharmacy.”
