Expanding access to methadone, a medication used to fight opioid addiction, is imperative in the effort to stop the nation’s substance use disorder epidemic, regional officials said.

Their comments come in response to a recent study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association that found the risk of discontinuing treatment was higher among first-time recipients who received buprenorphine and naloxone compared with those treated with methadone.

Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey, who introduced a bipartisan bill in March 2023 to expand access, issued a statement after the study was released, calling methadone an “essential and effective treatment” that should be available in pharmacies.

Ruth Potee, the medical director of the Behavioral Health Network, which operates four methadone clinics in western Massachusetts, agreed.

“From a scientific standpoint, we all think these two medicines are incredibly effective,” Potee said. “We consider them to be miracle molecules. The problem is that they’re not widely available, particularly methadone.”

Markey and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, has offered the Modernizing Opioid Treatment Access Act, that would expand access to methadone.

“In the face of a fentanyl crisis that is claiming tens of thousands of lives per year, we have a life-saving medication that works – methadone,” Markey said in a statement to the Recorder. “We have rules in place that mean people in western Massachusetts can’t get the medication they need because opioid treatment programs are too far away, their hours are too short, or the stigma is too high.”

One innovative option is offered at the Franklin County Jail and House of Corrections in Greenfield. In 2019, the jail became the first in the nation to become fully licensed and incorporated as an opioid treatment program, said Edmund Hayes, the assistant superintendent.

Hayes, who also serves as the administrative director of the jail’s methadone program, said most people in the jail have a substance use disorder.

“The rate of overdose for people who are incarcerated, once they’re released within 72 hours is astronomically higher than it is for another person with the same substance use disorder,” Hayes said. “This is because most jails in the nation don’t offer addiction treatment.”

Hayes said most people that he sees in the jail have not seen a medical provider in years and they’re often the first to treat people medically in years.

According to the National Institute of Health, 43.8% of 1,028 jails across the country offered medication for opioid use disorder, and only 12.8% made these medications available to anyone addicted to opioids.

Hayes said the lack of access for fighting opioid addiction comes from the stigma to drug addiction.

“Addiction is a disease, not a moral failing and many of the regulations that were created for the DEA came out of the War on Drugs,” Hayes said. “All jails should be offering this treatment.”

The Markey-Paul bill would allow pharmacies to dispense methadone for opioid use disorder. Currently, it is only available at treatment programs for opioid use disorder.

Potee said the bill would expand access to methadone even in Massachusetts, which has a number of methadone clinics. As of May, the state has 55 brick-and-mortar and three mobile opioid treatment programs, according to a study done by Tufts University School of Medicine. This does not include the BHN’s mobile van, which launched in Ware in July.

Potee said people stop taking medication because they can’t get to an opioid treatment program. The study by Tufts tracks how far people have to go in the state to pick up methadone.

According to Potee, 80% of the counties in the country don’t have access to an opioid treatment program and it’s usually more available in urban areas.

Hayes said he hopes if the Markey-Paul bill passes, it will change the “bureaucratic regulation around methadone.”

It took the jail 54 weeks to get their license to dispense the medication.

“The amount of hoops you have to go through to become a methadone clinic is ludicrous,” Hayes said.