MAJOR VICTORY: End Substance Use Disorder Celebrates Congress’ Passage of the MAT Act and Other Solutions to Prevent Overdoses and Support Recovery
End Substance Use Disorder applauds the passage of the Consolidated Appropriations Act for 2023, which includes the Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment (MAT) Act and other key reforms that the organization has championed to address America’s worsening overdose crisis. The MAT Act will remove federal barriers to medications for opioid use disorder, reduce stigma, and increase access to life-saving treatment that prevents overdoses and supports recovery.
“As a big sister who lost her little brother to an overdose, I know how critical it is that our loved ones with substance use disorder have immediate access to treatment proven to save lives and support recovery,” said Erin Schanning, president of End Substance Use Disorder.
“The MAT Act sends a clear message: People with substance use disorder deserve health care, compassion, and support that can help them heal just like people with other medical conditions.
The MAT Act is the beginning of a fundamental change in how our country approaches substance use disorder. By equipping health care providers with one of the most effective treatments for heroin, fentanyl, and opioid use, the MAT Act takes a significant step towards integrating substance use disorder treatment into the health care system where it belongs.
The MAT Act will reduce stigma. It will save countless lives from overdoses. And, it will open the doors of recovery and safety to millions of loved ones.
We look forward to working with lawmakers to enact the next common-sense solutions needed to end overdoses, stop stigma, and support healing.”
End Substance Use Disorder thanks Reps. Paul Tonko, Mike Turner, and Anthony Gonzalez, and Sens. Maggie Hassan and Lisa Murkowksi for their sponsorship of the MAT Act and their tireless work to ensure that the bill was included in the omnibus. We also thank Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Leader Mitch McConnell, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Frank Pallone Jr. and Ranking Member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Senate HELP Committee Chair Patty Murray and Ranking Member Richard Burr, and Rep. David Trone for their leadership in passing the MAT Act.
About the MAT Act
In 2021, the United States lost nearly 108,000 people to drug overdoses — an unfathomable tragedy. Each person who died from an overdose has left behind family members, friends, and communities. Without action, we are projected to lose one million more loved ones to drug overdoses by 2030.
The MAT Act will help turn the tide of the overdose crisis by saving thousands of lives from overdoses every year and supporting long-term recovery from opioid use disorder. Overdose deaths are preventable through evidence-based treatment, including medication that prevents painful withdrawal symptoms and that stems opioid cravings. But due to outdated federal rules, only about 1 in 10 people in need receive medications for opioid use disorder, including buprenorphine, which is recognized as a gold standard of care.
These outdated federal rules include mandatory registration with SAMHSA and the DEA to prescribe buprenorphine, limits on the number of patients with opioid use disorder that health care providers can treat with the medication, and other onerous requirements that stigmatize one of the most effective treatments for opioid use disorder, patients with the condition, and the health care providers who treat them. Due to these onerous federal rules, fully 40% of U.S. counties lack a single health care provider who can prescribe buprenorphine for opioid use disorder.
The MAT Act removes these onerous, outdated federal rules and empowers all health care providers with a standard controlled medication license to prescribe buprenorphine for opioid use disorder, just as they prescribe other essential medications. The MAT Act will help destigmatize a gold standard of care for opioid use disorder and will integrate substance use disorder treatment into primary care and behavioral health care practices, emergency departments, hospitals, and the health care system as a whole. By passing the MAT Act, Congress has acted to prevent future overdose deaths and support people with substance use disorder in securing recovery.
Read more about the MAT Act’s specific provisions here.
End Substance Use Disorder’s Leadership in Passing the MAT Act
End Substance Use Disorder built and led a coalition of nearly 550 organizations that held Congress and the White House accountable to passing the MAT Act. The organizations in the coalition represent and serve millions on the front lines of the overdose crisis. They include people and families personally affected by the overdose crisis, health care and behavioral health providers, Veterans, law enforcement professionals and first responders, faith-based leaders, recovery and harm reduction specialists, social justice advocates, payers, and public health experts.
End Substance Use Disorder and its coalition partners held hundreds of meetings with Congressional offices, the White House, and federal agencies, sent tens of thousands of calls and messages to Congress, and issued letters of support for the MAT Act. We hosted cabinet members in the Biden-Harris Administration for the launch of their Overdose Prevention Strategy and members of Congress for events to emphasize the importance of reducing stigma and expanding access to life-saving treatment.
This Congress, the MAT Act was among the most broadly supported individual pieces of overdose prevention legislation introduced, winning more cosponsors than 99% of bills in the House. The MAT Act gained more than 275 Democratic, Republican, and Independent cosponsors in the House (H.R. 1384) and the Senate (S. 445). The bill passed the House of Representatives in June with overwhelming bipartisan support.
President Biden included the policy in his State of the Union Address as part of his Unity Agenda. Both President Biden and President Trump took executive action to expand access to buprenorphine and both Administrations’ former Directors of the Office of National Drug Control Policy called for Congress to pass the MAT Act. They joined the bipartisan U.S. Commission on Combating Synthetic Opioid Trafficking in urging Congress to adopt the policy.
The Editorial Boards of both The New York Times and The Washington Post endorsed the MAT Act.
Congress’ passage of the MAT Act is a significant step towards ensuring that everyone with substance use disorder receives the care they need to be well.
The Work Ahead
In addition to the MAT Act, the omnibus contains other reforms that End Substance Use Disorder has championed, including provisions to reduce stigma towards substance use disorder, to expand access to training and recovery support services, and to increase funding for the prevention and treatment of substance use disorder.
End Substance Use Disorder looks forward to President Biden’s signing of this bill that will provide hope, belonging, and safety to millions of Americans with substance use disorder and their families.
We’ll continue to deliver results for families and people with substance use disorder and to hold elected officials accountable to ending the overdose crisis. Read more about our plan here.
About End Substance Use Disorder
End Substance Use Disorder is a nonpartisan campaign committed to ending overdoses, stopping stigma, and supporting healing.
The organization unites coalitions that represent and serve millions of Americans, including people and families personally affected by the overdose crisis, health care and behavioral health providers, Veterans, law enforcement professionals and first responders, faith-based leaders, recovery and harm reduction specialists, social justice advocates, payers, and public health experts.
Together, through education and effective policy, we are working to shift the paradigm to show that substance use disorder is a preventable and treatable medical condition, not a personal choice or moral failing.
For more information, please contact us at media@endsud.org.