New research has found that increased access to the opioid use disorder (OUD) drug methadone at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic may have been behind a reduction in methadone-related overdose deaths over a more than two-year period.
Due to efforts to limit the spread of COVID-19, methadone access was expanded to permit more OUD patients to take doses at home. In the United States, methadone treatment for OUD usually has required individuals to obtain doses daily in person through