Trump administration will let nearly all doctors prescribe addiction medicine buprenorphine

The Trump administration announced a major shift in addiction medicine policy Thursday, giving doctors dramatically more flexibility to prescribe a popular and effective drug used to treat opioid use disorder.

The change will allow almost all physicians to prescribe the addiction drug buprenorphine, regardless of whether they’ve obtained a government waiver. Previously, doctors had to undergo an eight-hour training and receive the license, known as the “X-waiver,” before they could prescribe buprenorphine.