President Joe Biden last week killed a plan from the Trump administration to allow more physicians to prescribe an opioid-treatment drug.
The move from the Trump administration was widely praised by both physicians and lawmakers, and came on the heels of another spike in opioid-related deaths during the pandemic. Criticizing the Biden administration on the reversal, Trump’s Assistant Secretary for Health Dr. Brett Giroir warned the move “will cost thousands of lives.”
In a message obtained by The Washington Post last week, the Biden administration said Trump’s forthcoming Practice Guidelines for the Administration of Buprenorphine for Treating Opioid Use Disorder issued on Jan. 14 was announced “prematurely.” “Therefore,” team Biden said, “the Guidelines previously announced cannot be issued at this time.”
According to anonymous sources within the Biden team, Trump’s plan “was plagued by legal and operational problems, including a failure to get necessary clearance from the White House budget office,” the Post reported.
“The Biden-Harris administration absolutely supports broader access to medication-based treatment for opioid use disorder, and is working to find ways to lift burdensome restrictions on medications for opioid use disorder treatment,” said a spokesperson from Biden’s drug policy office.- READ MORE
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