People addicted to opioids rarely get life-saving medications. That may change.
The Biden administration is moving to make it easier for Americans with opioid addiction to gain access to medical treatments proven to save lives.
Doctors and researchers have known for decades that safe, easy-to-use medications are a game-changer for people addicted to opioids.
Buprenorphine and methadone reduce cravings for opioids and ease withdrawal symptoms, helping people avoid relapses and deadly overdoses.
"If somebody has access to these life-saving medications, it cuts their mortality risk by 50 percent," says Dr. Linda Wang, a researcher who treats patients with addiction at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.
"It has a huge impact preventing death."
But as fatal opioid overdoses surge in the , access to these
