Democracy Dies in Darkness

Biden kills Trump plan on opioid-treatment prescriptions

Physicians celebrated Trump’s last-minute effort to loosen requirements they said hurt the opioid-crisis response. But the Biden administration said the plan was issued ‘prematurely.’

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January 27, 2021 at 9:56 p.m. EST
President Donald Trump’s last-minute plan would have exempted many physicians from the “X” waiver — a two-decade-old requirement to undergo training before they could prescribe buprenorphine for opioid-use disorder. (Toby Talbot/AP)

The Biden administration said Wednesday that it is canceling a last-minute plan by its predecessors to let more physicians prescribe an opioid-treatment drug, despite exhortations to keep it from lawmakers and physician groups.

The Trump administration plan had been hailed by physicians as loosening requirements they said had slowed their response to the opioid crisis. Then-presidential candidate Joe Biden also criticized the prescribing rules and vowed to lift them if elected. But legal experts suggested the change made earlier this month did not pass muster.