I started talking about the history of opiate laws in the United States the other day but there was way too many freaking laws for just one post! So here we are, part II of the ongoing legal evolution concerning drug management by our country. The timeline continues:

• 1973: Drug Enforcement Agency – This agency replaced the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs.
• 1973: Methadone Control Act – Federal funds are set aside for methadone clinics, but licensing is now required to dispense the drug and other regulations are established.
• 1986: Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 – The war on drugs goes international as the feds take on interdiction for violation of drug laws and other efforts to wipe out foreign drug crops and traffickers. It also expanded federal funds for drug education, treatment and rehabilitation here at home and created mandatory minimum sentences that varied based on the drug in question and the amount.
• 1988: Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 - The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and more money is allocated for the prevention of drug use and abuse among kids as well as campaigns targeting intravenous drug use and the spread of HIV. 
• 2000: Federal – The Drug Addiction Treatment Act of 2000 (DATA 2000) - This is a big one for us! Qualified doctors can now prescribe narcotics for the treatment of opiate addiction from their office rather than from a drug addiction treatment center. There is a 30-patient limit per each practice.
• 2004: June 2004 The Confidentiality of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Patient Records Regulation and the HIPAA Privacy Rule – Your drug and alcohol dependency related medical records are now protected. You have to consent before they will admit to anyone else that you are or ever were a patient in their facility.
• 2005: Public law 109-56 - Another big one for us! No longer is there a 30-patient limit imposed on practices. Instead, there is a 30-patient limit for doctors.
• 2006: Bill H.R.6344 – This bill became allow and the 30-patient limit per doctor was lifted allowing instead for 100 patients per doctor.

Phew. So that’s what we’re dealing with, all the major laws over the last century or so, local laws notwithstanding. So over the next few posts, I’ll be talking about these laws and their impact. Feel free to comment and let everyone know what you think of these laws, their efficacy and their potential to actually solve the problem of drug addiction.

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"A History of Opiate Laws in the United States, Part II" posted in Opiates, Suboxone.
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