Dr. Hillary Kunins, the city's director of behavioral health, argued that the stigma and barriers caused by the overregulation of methadone prevent individuals from accessing and remaining in treatment. She compared this situation to requiring a person with heart disease to visit a specialized clinic daily for medication, emphasizing the absurdity of such rigid regulations for individuals seeking care for substance use disorders.
In California, strict regulations currently require that methadone can only be dispensed from dedicated opioid treatment programs or clinics. However, recent changes in federal policy have begun to improve accessibility, allowing patients to initiate treatment via telehealth and receive short-term prescriptions from hospitals.
Assembly Bill 2115, authored by Assemblymember Matt Haney, aims to make methadone treatment more widely available in California by aligning state regulations with federal guidelines. Dr. Kunins stressed the urgency of passing this bill, indicating that it could have a significant impact on lives by making essential treatments accessible to those in need.
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