| The
American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence (AATOD)
was founded in 1984 as the Northeast Regional Methadone Treatment
Coalition, Inc. Treatment providers joined together to support the
legitimacy of methadone maintenance treatment for opioid dependence
and to increase the availability of comprehensive treatment services
to people in need of care.
The
Northeast Coalition evolved into the national organization in 1991,
known originally as the American Methadone Treatment Association,
Inc. (AMTA), to better coordinate the efforts of methadone treatment
providers throughout the United States . When the organization went
national, we expanded our goals to include organizing the treatment
community throughout the United States . The Board of Directors
approved our current name in 2001 to better embrace all forms of
opioid pharmacotherapy.
AATOD
also began working more formally with our European partner (EUROPAD)
in forming the World Federation for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence
during a EUROPAD meeting in Ljubljana , Slovenia during July 2007.
EUROPAD and AATOD jointly filed an application to the Committee
on Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) to the United Nations of
Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) during 2009. The
World Federation received an approval for its NGO application during
the first quarter of 2011, which will allow us to work with programs
and governments in member nations of the UN to increase access to
medication-assisted treatment for chronic opioid addiction wherever
it is needed.
We
remain committed to upholding the standards of quality comprehensive
treatment first developed by Drs. Marie Nyswander and Vincent Dole
in the mid-1960's as reflected in our Ethical
Canon. The American Association for the Treatment of Opioid
Dependence will continue to work with the federal agencies and state
substance abuse authorities concerning opioid treatment policy and
developing opioid replacement pharmacotherapies. Our organization
will also continue to sponsor national opioid treatment conferences,
which will convene in different regions of the country.
2011:
Work with representatives from the Alliance of States with Prescription
Monitoring Programs and the Brandeis PMP Center of Excellence in
developing policy recommendations for OTPs to gain access to PMP
databases without compromising federal confidentiality protections
for our patients.
2010:
Work with representatives at the National Development and Research
Institute (NDRI) and Brewer University in developing attitudinal
surveys to understand the views of representatives in the criminal
justice community in using approved medications to treat chronic
opioid addiction.
2007:
Formed the World Federation for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence
with EUROPAD at the EUROPAD meeting in Ljubljana , Slovenia.
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