Perception of Medication for Opioid Use Disorder

Medications for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD) have proven to be the ‘gold standard’ treatment for the management of opioid use disorder (OUD) with research showing reductions in opioid use, overdoses, and criminal activity following the use of MOUD. Despite these research findings, MOUD has been underutilized as treatment for OUD in the community and in the American Criminal Justice System; many substance use treatment programs in the community, and within the system, still rely on abstinence-based methods of treatment. Arguably, the biggest barrier to responding to the opioid crisis, and fully implementing MOUD, has been stigma. This project uses a mixed-method analysis from three data sources to study barriers to MOUD treatment access in Pennsylvania and Maryland. Findings demonstrate a relationship between professional treatment providers’ attitudes toward OUD/MOUD and the availability/use of MOUD, with results showing stigma inversely related to support for MOUD.