Washington, D.C. — Today, the Bipartisan Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Task Force co-chairs, Representatives Annie Kuster (D-NH), David Trone (D-MD), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), and Lisa McClain (R-MI) hosted a roundtable discussion with addiction education experts to raise awareness about the gaps in addiction training in medical schools. Representative Lori Trahan (D-MA) was also in attendance. 

Last year, the Medication Access and Training Expansion (MATE) Act was signed into law to require a one-time requirement for all DEA-controlled substance prescribers to complete training on treating patients with substance use disorders. While this is an essential step forward, the lack of proper education is still a persistent problem across the country. 

In the United States, only one in five people with opioid use disorder receive medications that are considered the gold standard for opioid treatment, such as methadone or buprenorphine, and much of this is due to gaps in medical education about these medications. Studies show that less than 1 percent of the nation’s medical doctors specialize in addiction and only 5 percent of eligible providers have obtained the special license that’s required to prescribe buprenorphine. During the roundtable, the lawmakers and medical educators discussed the need to increase and improve addiction training to address this lack of expertise in the medical field. 

“Ensuring that our medical students and doctors are trained to treat patients fighting substance use disorder is key to combating the opioid epidemic,” said the Co-Chairs. “We’re proud to support new training requirements for medication-assisted treatment, but this is just the beginning. We’ve known for years that investing in this treatment approach will save lives, but it’s useless if doctors aren’t prepared to prescribe it. We can’t end this epidemic without doctors equipped to give folks fighting this disease the best treatment possible.”

The Bipartisan Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Task Force brings together over 130 Democratic and Republican lawmakers committed to combating the growing opioid, substance use disorder, and mental health crises. During the 117th Congress, the Task Force passed 26 bills from their legislative agenda into law. In 2021, more than 106,000 Americans died from an overdose, and in 2022 that number rose dramatically due to the prevalence and accessibility of dangerous synthetic drugs like fentanyl and xylazine.

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