Drug treatment that insists on abstinence? Federal agencies are just saying no Lev Facher By Lev FacherMay 31, 2024

The U.S. government is moving away from abstinence-focused drug policy An important shift is happening in drug addiction policy: The government no longer thinks abstinence is the only solution. As my colleague Lev Facher reports, in recent years key federal agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration, have quietly been welcoming initiatives with a different, more realistic goal: to reduce drug use if eliminating it is not possible. This reflects the broader evidence-based consensus in addiction treatment, which is increasingly adopting harm reduction in lieu of ideal, yet often unattainable, results. “The obvious metaphor is Russian roulette: Instead of taking 28 doses of fentanyl a week, you take four — it can still kill you, but the probability goes down,” said Nora Volkow, the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. “So it’s just a simple statistical matter.” You can read more here about what changes are already in place, and what others harm reduction proponents would like to see. https://www.statnews.com/2024/05/31/drug-policy-shifts-from-abstinence-to-harm-reduction/?utm_campaign=morning_rounds&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--rZ4VQ6XHdJyUH7-gZlpY9r0m-tjrH57cLj2JfkxnTEwHd8oLSO41TKi71Rao-uryHX8QL9ZRM8vfmL9q-53gDoVk0vQ&_hsmi=309503763&utm_content=309503763&utm_source=hs_email