ACCESS TO SUBSTANCE USE TREATMENT
The Issue:
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One of the key missed opportunities in flattening the curve of America’s overdose crisis is the availability of high quality, affordable, and respectful substance use treatment. As we enter the third decade of the crisis, access to effective treatment remains elusive, especially within institutionalized and congregate care facilities. Numerous consumer protection, constitutional, and fraud-oriented legal levers are available to challenge these dangerous and abusive practices. Obfuscating their responsibility, however, governmental regulators and law enforcement have too often remained on the sidelines.
As part of its work to improve responses to the overdose crisis, the Action Lab in partnership with Justice Catalyst has been actively involved in research, advocacy, and media literacy to improve access to treatment since 2017. Despite life-or-death stakes, the pace of change has been glacial. In order to catalyze more rapid change, we have recently begun work to deploy civil and criminal law tools as instruments of reform. This has included convening and filing amicus briefs in ongoing cases, research to better understand the landscape of tort litigation against substance use treatment providers, and case preparation of a wrongful death case to onboard a partner litigator whom we convinced to pursue the case.
Our Projects
Drug Courts, Jails, & Prisons
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Entity mapping
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Compliance check
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Enforcement action with DOJ
Litigation Assistance
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For plaintiffs who were treated with MOUD outside the legal standard of care, or denied their rights under the FHA or ADA
Mapping MOUD Availability in Outpatient Treatment Facilities Project:
10 State Secret Shopper Study
Events
Virtual Convening: Legal Tools To Promote Access to Medications for Opioid Use Disorder
Article Launch with David H. Sinkman and Greg Dorchak
February 28, 2022
Resources & Fact Sheets
False Claims and True Intentions: Fraud in the Rehab Industrial Complex
Norrie Osgood
2023
The Americans with Disabilities Act: Protecting Civil Rights for People with Substance Use Disorders
Amelia Caramadre and Sean McCormick
American Bar Association, July 31, 2023
Advancing Syringe Services in the United States: The Untapped Role of the Americans with Disabilities Act
Leo Beletsky, John C. Messinger, et al
Yale Journal of Health Policy Law & Ethics, 2022
U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division