Statement on HHS announcing the STREETS Initiative to combat opioid addiction

This statement is in response to breaking news. Please contact pr@rstreet.org to speak with the scholars.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has just announced a $100 million investment in fighting opioid addiction called the Safety Through Recovery, Engagement, and Evidence-based Treatment and Supports (STREETS) Initiative. R Street’s Stacey McKenna, who recently authored a related study, released the following statement in response: 

“The R Street Institute welcomes the administration’s recognition that people with substance use disorder need a full continuum of care. Expanding access to recovery housing and medications for opioid use disorder saves lives, but an overemphasis on nonvoluntary approaches ignores the nonlinear reality of recovery. Lifesaving tools like naloxone, overdose education, drug checking, and syringe services connect people to care, improve public safety, and often serve as pathways to treatment. And despite increased investment, access to medications for opioid use disorder—especially methadone—will not improve without addressing excessive federal and state overregulation. Government should not stand in the way of people’s ability to stay safe and healthy.”

Stacey’s new study also argues that “improving access requires smarter policy, not bigger government. Easing unnecessary regulatory burdens on evidence-based care while strengthening the oversight of opioid treatment programs could expand provider participation, reduce fraud, and improve patient choice, experience, and access. Reassessing and adjusting parity rules to reflect evidence-based standards of care would also make it easier for providers and programs to accept Medicaid and Medicare, widening access to core recovery support systems.”