Suggested Reading: November 25, 2025

R Street Institute Newsletter Articles:

1. McKenna published an op-ed in DC Journal: “President Trump Wants Treatment Without Harm Reduction. It Won’t Work.” 

2. R Street’s Stacey McKenna published “Contraceptive Wants and Needs Among Women with Substance Use Disorders.” 

3. Boyd published “Why Opioid Treatment Program Locations Matter” and “Case Studies: Examining Right-to-Contraception State-Level Legislative Processes.”

4. McKenna and R Street’s Lisel Petis (Criminal Justice and Civil Liberties) and Matt Germer (Governance) published “Militarizing Public Safety Responses Is a Strategic and Legal Misstep.” 

5. Reason Foundation published commentary titled “Modernizing addiction regulations: How licensing, telehealth, and delivery reform can expand access to care.” 

6. The SUPPORT Act, a bill to reauthorize billions of dollars in funding for opioid prevention and treatment, is still awaiting presidential signature. 

7. Oklahoma’s harm reduction programs are at risk unless state lawmakers      extend their legal right to operate.

8. Reason Foundation published commentary on Philadelphia’s 2025 law that limits where mobile medical and harm reduction units can operate in the city’s Kensington neighborhood.
   

Research, Policy and News

Opioids and other drugs

In access to medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD):

1. New research showed “wide disparities” in buprenorphine uptake across states.

2. A study found that offering MOUD to people while they are incarcerated increases their likelihood of continuing treatment after release and reduces overdose and risk of re-incarceration.

3. New research found that specialty treatment for substance use disorder increased by 28 percent in states that undertook Medicaid expansion between 2010 and 2022.

4. The National Safety Council published a tool to help employers determine how much naloxone their workplaces should stock.

5. Libby Jones of the Global Health Advocacy Incubator visited the SMART Policy Podcast to talk about addiction treatment behind bars and the role harm reduction plays in the recovery ecosystem.

6. China will tighten controls on the export of 13 fentanyl precursor chemicals.

7. “Is Prohibition the Solution to the Complexity of Substance Use?” 

8. “Medication for Opioid Disorder Doesn’t Swap One Drug For Another”

9. Holidays Never Meant Much to Me —  Until I Went to Prison