Submission Statement
For decades methadone clinics have been very tightly regulated and it has been hard for people with opioid abuse issues to access it. Now, private equity is snapping up clinics --- but these millions of dollars of investment is just going to buying clinics with captive audiences, not to improve access.
The early data shows that what the private equity investments do is create near monopolies in many areas.
There is legislation in Congress that would allow licensed pharmacists to dispense methadone, as they do with bupe, but it has been gone nowhere.
“Nationwide, more than 120 people a day died from opioid overdoses in 2025, according to federal estimates
. Methadone is one of the most effective medications for opioid use disorder, cutting the risk of fatal overdose by roughly half. Yet only 22%
of people with the disorder ever receive it.
For more than five decades, only specialized, government-approved clinics, known as opioid treatment programs, have dispensed methadone, not regular doctors or pharmacies.
Many clinics require patients to show up in person every single day, with average one-way drive times approaching 50 minutes in rural communities.”
This also assumes there is transportation accessible for the individual to be able to get to the clinic.
The wealthy check-in to rehab centers. People who have the same problems as the wealthy - but without the money - are bleeped. We can’t really
blame patients if the existing treatments and system fail them.
Treatments like Narcan can get people temporarily breathing again, but they don’t treat the actual drug dependency. Thanks Sacklers.
I'm old and don't hang out with people who are likely to have issues with drugs and alcohol anymore, but the other issue with doing it in these concentrated areas is dealers just hang out by the clinics. I remember in the late 90s when prices really fell, that you would see guys sitting at the bus stop with their pocket full of balloons selling hits for as low as $5. And b/c the doses were at specific times they would show up with enough balloons to stay under felony charges, make their sales and split and then come back in a hour and do it again at the next dose.
I don't know if things have changed, but concentrating it in one location and putting it on a schedule seems like a way worse option than just having it part of the services you can get by appointment at your GPs.
[OP] The_Conversation | 8 hours ago
Submission Statement For decades methadone clinics have been very tightly regulated and it has been hard for people with opioid abuse issues to access it. Now, private equity is snapping up clinics --- but these millions of dollars of investment is just going to buying clinics with captive audiences, not to improve access.
The early data shows that what the private equity investments do is create near monopolies in many areas.
There is legislation in Congress that would allow licensed pharmacists to dispense methadone, as they do with bupe, but it has been gone nowhere.
horseradishstalker | 7 hours ago
“Nationwide, more than 120 people a day died from opioid overdoses in 2025, according to federal estimates . Methadone is one of the most effective medications for opioid use disorder, cutting the risk of fatal overdose by roughly half. Yet only 22% of people with the disorder ever receive it. For more than five decades, only specialized, government-approved clinics, known as opioid treatment programs, have dispensed methadone, not regular doctors or pharmacies.
Many clinics require patients to show up in person every single day, with average one-way drive times approaching 50 minutes in rural communities.”
This also assumes there is transportation accessible for the individual to be able to get to the clinic.
The wealthy check-in to rehab centers. People who have the same problems as the wealthy - but without the money - are bleeped. We can’t really blame patients if the existing treatments and system fail them.
Treatments like Narcan can get people temporarily breathing again, but they don’t treat the actual drug dependency. Thanks Sacklers.
elmonoenano | 6 hours ago
I'm old and don't hang out with people who are likely to have issues with drugs and alcohol anymore, but the other issue with doing it in these concentrated areas is dealers just hang out by the clinics. I remember in the late 90s when prices really fell, that you would see guys sitting at the bus stop with their pocket full of balloons selling hits for as low as $5. And b/c the doses were at specific times they would show up with enough balloons to stay under felony charges, make their sales and split and then come back in a hour and do it again at the next dose.
I don't know if things have changed, but concentrating it in one location and putting it on a schedule seems like a way worse option than just having it part of the services you can get by appointment at your GPs.
bobstonite | 5 hours ago
Or, as the article talks about, letting pharmacists handle prescriptions for it.
PluralMimsy | 4 hours ago
Just unnecessary evil lol. Absolutely no reason for this aside from abject greed