The American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence works with federal agencies and state substance abuse authorities concerning opioid treatment policy. The Association developed the State Methadone Guidelines (1993) and conjunction with the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) for the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT). These guidelines have been translated into French, Italian and Spanish and distributed to more than 20 countries. The Association is presently assisting CSAT in the development of an updated, encyclopedic Opioid Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP), Medication Assisted Treatment for Opioid Treatment for Opioid Addiction. Currently, the methadone treatment system is experiencing major changes as accreditation is implemented as the new federal oversight standard. AATOD continues to work with federal and state agencies to assist our members on complying with these standards, ensuring that they receive technical assistance necessary to make the transition. We believe that accreditation is a positive change for our field, improving the quality of health care in our facilities, increasing the legitimacy of the treatment system and greatly reducing the stigma often associated with our field.

Most recently, the Association worked with the National Drug Court Institute (NDCI) to publish and distribute the Drug Court Practitioner Fact Sheet, providing a basic understanding of opioid treatment for drug court professionals. The Association also worked recently with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to produce the Best Practice Guideline for Narcotic Treatment Programs and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration/Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (SAMHSA/ CSAT) in producing the Community Education Kit: Medication Assisted Treatment for the 21st Century.

The Association also convenes national conferences on an
eighteen-month cycle. These conferences focus on evidence-based clinical practice, current research breakthroughs and organizational developments affecting the current and future opioid treatment system. More than 46 states and 21 countries send representatives to this event. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) in addition to SAMHSA/ CSAT and other federal agencies work to support a number of the activities of this conference, including international relations and domestic substance abuse policy. The State Methadone Authorities meet during this event, working through policy related issues in their respective states.

The Association also convenes single topic symposia each year. The current focus is on providing training opportunities for management and treatment personnel, both old and new to the field and expanding access to treatment through new and innovative vehicles.

AATOD also works with opioid treatment providers throughout the world, especially in cooperation with the European Opiate Addiction Treatment Association (EUROPAD).

AATOD also works with recognized methadone patient advocacy organizations in educating providers and the community.

AATOD has also commenced ground-breaking work with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Mallinckrodt to increase access to the use of federally approved pharmacotherapies in treating chronic opioid dependence through the criminal justice system. AATOD will use a recent Robert Wood Foundation Innovators Award to Mark Parrino as a means of achieving the objectives of increasing access to the use of methadone in jails in different parts of the country in addition to educating judges, prosecutors, parole and probation officials about the value of methadone treatment. The Legal Action Center (LAC) will be a major partner in this project.

We will also be working with Purdue Pharma to better understand the impact of prescription opioid use on admissions to methadone treatment programs throughout the country. Seventy-five programs will participate in this 3½-year study, which is expected to provide critical trend analyses about the prevalence of prescription opioid abuse and how it is affecting methadone program admissions. National Development & Research Institutes (NDRI) will be the major partner in this project, which will be responsible in conducting all of the independent data gathering from the participating 75 programs.

Our staff and Board of Directors work tenaciously to promote the interests of our program members, but it is the unity and enthusiasm of our treatment community in improving treatment quality, increasing legitimacy of methadone maintenance as a treatment option and bringing treatment to those who need it makes our organization truly effective.