Opioid addiction treatment is collateral damage in online prescription backlash
Pandemic-era rules around telemedicine have been a huge boost to efforts to prevent opioid overdoses in the US. But those rules are also how controversial startup companies like Cerebral were able to prescribe Adderall and Xanax to huge numbers of people — and efforts to stem that flood of prescriptions could sweep away overdose prevention efforts in the process.
Since 2020, doctors have been able to prescribe controlled substances after a telehealth visit without needing to see patients in person. But that’s a big umbrella: Adderall and Xanax are controlled substances. So are buprenorphine and methadone, which are used to treat people dependent on opioids. Opioid overdoses have reached epidemic proportions in the US, with tens of...