Dear Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader McConnell, Congressman McCarthy, and Senator Schumer:
In response to the coronavirus pandemic, the twelve undersigned organizations representing behavioral health and substance use disorder treatment providers and public health advocates write to encourage Congress to pass the Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment Act (MAT Act, H.R. 2482, S. 2074). This bipartisan, bicameral legislation would remove the federal barrier established by the DATA 2000 Act that requires health care practitioners to obtain a waiver from Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) before prescribing buprenorphine, one of three drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat opioid use disorder (OUD).
