US to Expand Access to Opioid Addiction Medicine for Pregnant Women

Facts

• On Friday, the Biden administration announced a new plan to expand access to medication that treats substance use disorders, particularly opioid addiction, for pregnant women through federal court and health programs.
• This is part of a larger push to address the US drug crisis that reportedly causes more than 100k deaths annually.
• Pregnant women are especially at risk: opioid use disorder among this demographic has more than quadrupled in recent years, according to the CDC. Pregnant women are also more likely to die of a drug overdose than the average woman of the same age but less likely to have access to treatment medications.
• The plan will make it easier for pregnant women to get a prescription for drugs approved to treat opioid use disorder, such as buprenorphine and methadone.
• However, the use of drug-assisted treatment is controversial in the US because these medications are opioids themselves. They don't cause a high at prescribed doses but can reduce withdrawal symptoms.
• The new program will also encourage judges to include opioid replacement drugs in sentencing plans, train healthcare providers to screen pregnant or childbearing-age women for opioid use disorders, develop national certification standards for peer recovery support specialists, and launch new community programs.

Sources: White House, New York Times, NY Daily Paper, and Medicalxpress.

Narratives

• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Undark. This is an important step forward to address the ongoing opioid crisis in the US and help protect some of the most vulnerable people in society: pregnant women and their children. The use of medications like buprenorphine and methadone is an evidence-based opioid addiction treatment and a scientifically proven way to reduce drug dependency and save lives. We know these medications work, and we have a duty to make them universally available.
• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by NY Times. A substance-replacement approach to drug addiction is not the solution. Drugs like buprenorphine and methadone are opioids themselves — switching one opioid for another, albeit prescribed, only serves to encourage ongoing drug use. It's not a long-term or sustainable answer to drug addiction, which is why relapse is so common. We have to do better for pregnant women and their future children by supporting them through detox and providing the support they need to abstain from drugs going forward.