Beyond methadone - Improving health and empowering patients in opioid treatment programs

New York has increasingly recognized that drug use is more effectively addressed through health and rights-based approaches, rather than through the criminal justice system. One important example is Opioid Treatment Programs (OTPs), which offer methadone and buprenorphine to people who are dependent on heroin and other opioids (e.g. painkillers).

But methadone treatment programs are not perfect, and this report has found they miss a lot of opportunities to address unmet health needs among their patients, while failing to ensure basic rights are upheld.

VOCAL-NY members who are current or former methadone patients worked with the Urban Justice Center’s Community Development Project to develop a community–led research report that would document the challenges faced by methadone patients in OTPs and develop recommendations to make these programs more patient-centered.

Recommendations include onsite hepatitis C testing and care coordination, naloxone distribution and education about the new “911 Good Samaritan” law to prevent overdose deaths, onsite syringe exchange, and administrative reforms to prevent treatment interruptions.

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