AUDIO – HOPES TOO? –

Dec, 26, 2022 – MANN: But public health experts say stigma in the health care system and strict government regulations mean 90% of people addicted to opioids never get these medications. Wang, who treats patients at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, says this denial of basic health care is a deadly holdover from the era when addiction was seen as a crime, not an illness.

WANG: We were enacting a war on drugs and criminalizing drug use, and it was racist.

MANN: Studies show people of color have the hardest time gaining access to opioid addiction medications. Now the Biden administration is moving to reform rules for opioid treatment programs for the first time in 20 years, acknowledging the current system leaves millions of people vulnerable.

NEERAJ GANDOTRA: There were significant barriers that were quite stigmatizing for patients as they enter treatment.

Click@NPR