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Medications for Opioid Use Disorders Saves Lives

Medications for opioid use disorder (OUD) save lives. Yet most people with OUD in the United States receive no treatment at all, and only a fraction of those who do receive medications for OUD. With support from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened an expert committee to examine the evidence base for medications to treat OUD and to identify barriers that prevent people from accessing safe, effective, medication-based treatment. The resulting report, Medications for Opioid Use Disorder Save Lives, presents the committee’s findings and conclusions.