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Social & Legal Perspectives On Underuse Of Medication-Assisted Treatment For Opioid Dependence, Barbara Andraka-Christou

Maurer Theses and Dissertations

Medication-assisted treatment (MAT) in combination with counseling is considered the most effective treatment for opioid dependence by the World Health Organization, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and American Society of Addiction Medicine. Two MAT medications, buprenorphine and methadone, are considered essential medicines by the World Health Organization. Despite MAT’s effectiveness, it is severely underused in U.S. treatment settings, including physicians’ offices, hospitals, the Veterans Administration, residential treatment centers, prisons, and drug courts. The dissertation examines social and legal reasons for under-use of MAT in the U.S., including dominance of abstinence-only treatment methods, separation of addiction treatment from mainstream …