Home > Methadone take-home policies and associated mortality: permitting versus non-permitting states.

Harris, Rebecca Arden (2024) Methadone take-home policies and associated mortality: permitting versus non-permitting states. Substance Use: Research and Treatment, 18, 29768357241272379. https://doi.org/10.1177/29768357241272379.

External website: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/297683572...

To mitigate COVID-19 exposure risks in methadone clinics, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) issued a temporary modification of regulations in March 2020 to permit, with state concurrence, extended take-home methadone doses. The modification allowed for up to 28 days of take-home methadone for stable patients and 14 days for those less stable. Using both interrupted time series and difference-in-differences methods, this study examined the association between the policy change and fatal methadone overdoses, comparing states that permitted the expansion of take-home doses with states that did not. The findings suggest the pandemic emergency take-home policy did not increase methadone-involved mortality.


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