A Leader Fighting the Overdose Crisis Urges Standardizing Addiction Medicine Education and Supporting New DEA Requirements

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and The National Vital Statistics System, drug-related overdose deaths have been rising over the past two decades in the United States. In 2021, 106,699 drug overdose deaths occurred. Adults aged 65 and over experienced the largest percentage increase in drug overdose death rates from 2020 through 2021, with a 28% increase. 

On December 29, 2022, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 enacted a new one-time requirement which goes into effect as of June 27, 2023 for any Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)-registered practitioner (except for veterinarians) to complete 8 hours of training “on the treatment and management of patients with opioid or other substance use disorders.”

Dr. Kevin Zacharoff, a chronic pain and substance use expert, Faculty Member, Clinical Instructor, and the Course Director of Pain and Addiction at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, says “I support the decision to mandate education on this subject matter from the Drug Enforcement Administration. According to Senators Michael Bennet and Susan Collins in the MATE Act, a recent survey of clinicians revealed that only 1 in 4 of them received training on addiction during their medical education.”

Dr. Zacharoff, who is also the co-author of several books including of The PainEDU.org Manual : A Pocket Guide to Pain Management and Managing Chronic Pain with Opioids in Primary Care adds that “this is significant in that when Congress eliminated the X-Waiver 8-hour educational requirement to prescribe buprenorphine for opioid use disorder, it is being replaced with a one-time, 8-hour educational requirement for every DEA registrant.”

Interviews with Dr. Kevin Zacharoff can be conducted.