If all you read is the headlines, you might get the impression that the only validated path to recovery from addiction is medication-assisted treatment or MAT. This term refers to the use of a pharmaceutical treatment for a person in recovery, either to quell their cravings or to prevent their preferred drug from having the desired effect.

While there is growing hope that the end of the COVID-19 pandemic is in sight, America’s other health crisis — the drug overdose epidemic — is intensifying. In the 12 months leading up to August 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated there were over 88,000 overdose deaths, enough to fill the Washington Football Team’s stadium with spillover into the parking lot. Not only does this tragic statistic reflect the most overdose deaths recorded in a 12-month span in American history, but it also represents countless tears shed for the children, siblings, friends and parents whose lives were cut short by the disease of addiction.

Ending this crisis will require using every evidence-based tool at our disposal.