“The Public Policy Committee works in close collaboration with the Research, Treatment and Education Sections of AAAP to promote excellence of clinical practice in Addiction Psychiatry, to educate the public regarding substance use disorders, to promote accessibility and quality of treatment for all patients, and to support research in the field. Further, the Public Policy Section supports the Board of Directors in their deliberations regarding AAAP positions on legal cases and legislative initiatives pertinent to substance use disorders and addiction psychiatry.”
—Richard N. Rosenthal, MD, Section Head Chair; Hilary S. Connery, MD, PhD, Co-Chair and Justine Welsh, MD, Early Career Co-Chair
Advocacy Statements
December 17, 2024
Given the nation’s drug overdose crisis, we ask President Biden to immediately lift the current $75 maximum restriction in certain federal grant programs on patient incentives for recovery behaviors (known as Contingency Management or CM) from opioid, stimulant, and alcohol use disorders. Lifting this cap is crucial for enhancing the effectiveness of treatments for substance use disorders.
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May 14, 2024
Letter to express concern that the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) recently released two Notices of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs) with a combined total of about 2 billion for State Opioid Response (SOR) and Tribal Opioid Response (TOR) grants, both with non-evidence based limits on funding for contingency management (CM), despite CM’s proven efficacy in the treatment of stimulant use disorder (StimUD).
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May 14, 2024
Request that the Senate Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee include in its Fiscal 2025 LHHS Appropriations Bill and Report funding and language to support three programs that provide enhanced technical assistance, education and training for clinicians who are responding to the overdose crisis facing our nation to ensure effective, evidence-based treatments are delivered to people with substance use disorders.
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January 9, 2024
AAAP and 40 other organizations express strong support for the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act (S. 3393), sponsored by Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA).
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October 17, 2023
AAAP provides comments from the perspective of experts in the treatment of individuals with substance use disorders and mental health conditions and based on significant real-life experience with the barriers associated with discriminatory insurance practices.
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August 18, 2023
AAAP provides input in response to the Request for Information regarding the Food and Drug Administration’s regulation of cannabidiol (CBD).
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May 31, 2023
The undersigned addiction, mental health, recovery support, harm reduction, and healthcare professional organizations write to voice our strong support for S. 971/H.R. 3074 – the Due Process Continuity of Care Act.
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April 19, 2023
AAAP asks Congress to provide $35 million for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), $25 million for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and $1 million for the National Institute of Justice NIJ) to conduct public health research into firearm morbidity and mortality prevention.
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March 30, 2023
We support the steps the Administration is taking to provide flexibility for physicians and other clinicians to initiate prescriptions of controlled substances for addiction treatment via telehealth modalities and the flexible definition of “home” for the location of the patient to improve access. However, we strongly urge for a repeal of the 30-day in-person requirement for those on buprenorphine who have never received an in-person evaluation.
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March 29, 2023
As ONDCP develops its 2024 Strategy to strengthen our nation’s ability to deliver comprehensive prevention, treatment, and recovery services for people, families and communities facing substance use issues, we urge you to build on the 2022 Strategy by identifying solutions to remaining barriers to care and implementing policies to reduce stigma and discrimination.
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March 23, 2023
The undersigned addiction, mental health, and healthcare professional organizations are writing today to urge your support for the increased funding of important addiction prevention, treatment, harm reduction, and recovery support programs aimed at strengthening the addiction service workforce in Fiscal Year 2024. The undersigned represent diverse organizations united around common policy goals that will lead to meaningful and comprehensive policies to reduce drug overdose deaths.
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March 20, 2023
As the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee develops comprehensive legislation to address our nation’s healthcare workforce shortages, we would like to offer the following recommendations for addressing current workforce gaps and increasing the number of clinicians who work at the intersection of the treatment of substance use disorders and mental health conditions.
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February 15, 2023
Since the PHE will be ending on May 11, we urge the Administration to quickly provide individual patient exceptions for patients receiving PHE flexibilities in take-home doses (THD) to ensure a safe transition from the PHE while careful consideration can be given to any permanent rule changes going forward.
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January 31, 2023
To best treat people with SUDs, clinicians need to be able to coordinate care with other health professionals to meet patients’ whole health needs without fear of stigma and discrimination. This rule will help to better meet this need.
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Statements by the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry are not intended to serve as a standard of medical care or treatment, nor do they necessarily reflect the views of individual AAAP members. These statements are not intended for use in making judgments about appropriate methods of care, treatment, or procedures, medical malpractice, disability determination, competency, or any other medical or legal matters. This website provides content associated with the work of Public Policy committee and approved by the Board of Directors.
