Senator Roberts Introduces the METH Addiction Act

Press Release

U.S. Senator Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), a senior member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today introduced the Modernizing Eligible Treatment centers for Healing (METH) Addiction Act. This legislation would help combat the methamphetamine crisis through telehealth.

The METH Addiction Act would allow for community addiction and mental health treatment centers to register with the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to prescribe controlled substances using telemedicine in a safe and effective environment.

"This legislation would provide a higher caliber of treatment via telemedicine," said Sen. Roberts. "Ensuring patients receive their prescribed controlled substances is crucial, especially in rural communities across Kansas and the country, who don't have the necessary access to their prescriptions as a result of where they live."

Currently, community addiction and mental health treatment centers have largely been unable to register with the DEA to be allowed to use telemedicine for treatment. To register with the DEA, providers must be authorized under state law to prescribe, administer or dispense controlled substances, however, because behavioral health clinics do not prescribe, administer or dispense controlled substances, most states do not authorize them to do so.

People battling addiction in rural areas often times have to travel long distances, sometimes across state lines, to receive these prescriptions due to a shortage of medication-assisted treatment (MAT) prescribers in these areas. The METH Addiction Act would make it easier for those who are seeking treatment to get the help they need.

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