PRATTVILLE – The Alabama Board of Medical Examiners, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration-funded Opioid Response Network, and the Medical Association of the State of Alabama are hosting a summit meeting next week for healthcare leaders to review federal policy changes designed to make medication to treat opioid addiction more widely available.

The federal government has recently taken action that makes it significantly easier for prescribers to provide buprenorphine, one of the most common FDA-approved treatments for opioid addiction. Sometimes sold as the medication Suboxone, buprenorphine was once highly restricted. In late 2022, Congress approved a change in federal drug policy that expands the pool of physicians and health workers who can prescribe buprenorphine to treat opioid addiction.

Attendees at the summit will discuss the impact of the new federal policy, identify continued barriers in prescribing buprenorphine, and develop strategies for implementing new treatment guidelines.

Nearly 70 percent of the 1,408 drug overdose deaths in Alabama in 2021 were related to opioids, according to information from the Alabama Opioid Overdose and Addiction Council.

Dr. Yngvild Olsen with the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration will be the featured speaker at the event.

The meeting will take place on Tuesday, August 8 at the Alabama Department of Public Health Training Center, 208 Legends Court in Prattville. The media are invited to cover Dr. Olsen’s remarks at 9 a.m. as well as a roundtable discussion to be held at 10:45 a.m.

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