Opioid use disorder and the COVID 19 pandemic: A call to sustain regulatory easements and further expand access to treatment

Subst Abus. 2020;41(2):147-149. doi: 10.1080/08897077.2020.1752351.

Abstract

We highlight the critical roles that pharmacists have related to sustaining and advancing the changes being made in the face of the current COVID-19 pandemic to ensure that patients have more seamless and less complex access to treatment. Discussed herein is how the current COVID-19 pandemic is impacting persons with substance use disorders, barriers that persist, and the opportunities that arise as regulations around treatments for this population are eased.

Keywords: Pandemic; buprenorphine; methadone; opioid use disorder; pharmacists; policy; regulations.

Publication types

  • Editorial

MeSH terms

  • Betacoronavirus
  • Buprenorphine / therapeutic use
  • COVID-19
  • Continuity of Patient Care* / legislation & jurisprudence
  • Coronavirus Infections / complications*
  • Humans
  • Methadone / therapeutic use
  • Opioid-Related Disorders / complications*
  • Opioid-Related Disorders / therapy*
  • Opioid-Related Disorders / virology*
  • Pandemics
  • Pharmacists
  • Pneumonia, Viral / complications*
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • United States

Substances

  • Buprenorphine
  • Methadone