Erin Fanning Madden, PhD, MPH and Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Public Health Sciences was quoted in a Washington Post article based on her research of methadone treatment and stigma.  The article is titled: “As drug deaths soar, experts urge expanded access to methadone”.  The story shares information from current methadone patients and researchers about the difficulties of accessing the treatment because of federal and state regulations that require providers to obtain special licenses, submit to law enforcement oversight, and surveil patients for medication diversion.  Because the treatment is not allowed to be prescribed in office-based settings or dispensed  from community pharmacies, patients must also go every day to specialized methadone clinics to be observed while they take medication, which makes many patients feel like they are on probation as opposed to a voluntary path to recovery. Only after two years of adherence are patients allowed to take a month of methadone doses home in the same way a typical prescribed medication is dispensed. “In no other treatment context does a patient enter into a medical intervention with the suspicion of criminality from the onset,” said Erin Fanning Madden, a professor of public health and medicine at Wayne State University in Michigan.

Please click here to view a PDF of the Washington Post article. 

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