Several medications approved to treat alcohol and opioid use disorders also appear to reduce...
Americans strongly support policies that would require addiction treatment centers to dispense medications for opioid use disorder (MOUDs), according to a nationally representative survey published today in Psychiatric Services. MOUDs include methadone, buprenorphine, and naltrexone.Why It’s Relevant
While evidence supports the effectiveness of MOUDs, just 62% of specialty addiction facilities offered patients any of these three medications in 2022. Meanwhile, overdoses remain a leading injury-related cause of death in the United States, and opioids such as fentanyl are involved in most overdose deaths.
Public approval for use of MOUDs has been unknown. This internet-based survey queried 1,552 non-Hispanic White or Black (Hispanic or non-Hispanic) adults nationwide about their support for state laws requiring addiction treatment centers to prescribe MOUDs as a condition of licensure.
By the Numbers
- Overall, 74% of respondents supported state licensure laws requiring that addiction treatment programs offer FDA-approved MOUDs. There was no difference in support among non-Hispanic White compared with Black respondents.
- Support cut across ideological lines—conservatives (67%), moderates (75%), and liberals (81%).
- Forty-five percent of respondents reported having family experience with addiction, and 43% reported knowing someone who died of an overdose. Yet support for MOUDs did not differ between those with or without such experience.
- Support was high even among respondents who reported discriminatory beliefs about people with addiction.
The Other Side
As with other surveys, the results may be subject to self-reporting and sampling bias, and the specific wording chosen to describe licensure laws could have influenced responses. Further, the results are only applicable to non-Hispanic White or Black participants.
Takeaway Message
Licensure laws to mandate the use of MOUDs have a high degree of public support and could be a promising strategy to address the opioid crisis. “Given that buprenorphine and methadone are evidence-informed, first-line treatments for opioid use disorder, offering these medications can serve that purpose by advancing the health and safety of patients in addiction treatment programs,” the researchers concluded.
Related Information
Source
Colleen L. Barry, et al. Public support for state laws requiring addiction programs to offer FDA-approved medications for opioid use disorder. Psychiatric Services in Advance. Published July 30, 2026. doi:10.1176/appi.ps.20250646
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