“Last month, President Trump signed into law the Substance Use–Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities Act (the ‘SUPPORT Act’). Most stakeholders agree that the law is an important step forward, offering a range of policies to prevent new addictions and to expand access to treatment, including medication-assisted treatment. The law also seeks to promote harm-reduction strategies, such as greater distribution of naloxone, to reduce deaths. And it authorizes pilot and demonstration projects for states to experiment with ways to expand health provider capacity. However, the law is also notable for what it does not include, most prominently, a major, sustained infusion of new funding to expand community-based care for substance use disorders.”
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