STATE POLICIES REGARDING OPIOID TREATMENT AND EVIDENCE-BASED RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ARIZONA

Abstract

The opioid epidemic in America has caused devastation to many communities, and different communities have approached this issue in a variety of ways. In particular, although treatment can improve outcomes for many people who use substances, states have different policies related to regulating or facilitating treatment options. In this essay, I have collected evidence based treatments for opioid use disorder to generate lessons for Arizona as they seek to promote substance use treatments backed by evidence. This would make the healing process more effective and affordable for patients. To propose policy suggestions to Arizona legislators, I compiled different state policies passed by West Virginia, Colorado, Texas, and Washington State, analyzed their usefulness based on previous research, and created suggestions based on the success of the policies passed by the other states. The goal of this essay is to emphasize the importance of evidence based treatment used for opioid use disorder and that the evidence related to opioid use disorder should be reflected in the relevant legislation. Arizona should use the success and failures of policies passed by other states as a guideline to better address the opioid epidemic going on in the state.