AATOD’s Five-Year Plan
2022-2026
AATOD will work with relevant policy partners, including the Board of Directors in order to develop a sustained educational initiative to educate Members of Congress. The importance of this initiative was clearly identified during 2018 since so many Members of Congress did not understand how opioid treatment programs function, the characteristics of the patients we treat and the comprehensive services that are provided. There is also a major misunderstanding about how medications are used to treat opioid use disorder, especially methadone maintenance treatment. It is understood that this will require sustained financial resources in order to effectively coordinate how OTP administrators and patient advocates are able to meet with Congressional representatives both in district offices and in Washington DC. It is also understood that this will be an ongoing initiative, which will continue over the course of AATOD’s strategic five-year plan. We anticipate that this will be an increasingly important initiative since a number of legislative bills are going to be introduced, which will have a direct impact on treating opioid use disorder.
