Big money behind battle over methadone access [Video]

Dr. James Baker believes his son Macky would be alive today if they had better access to methadone, a drug that relieves cravings for opioids.Macky died of a heroin overdose in 2016 after battling addiction for years.”Had it been available at the doctor’s office,” Baker said. “Macky might be here right now.”Now, methadone can only be dispensed by tightly regulated clinics called Opioid Treatment Programs, known as OTPs.Baker said that would have meant a three-hour drive every morning into Boston from their Holden home for Macky to wait in line at an OTP for someone to watch him take his dose, then another long return trip home.”He and his friends, when we talked about it, called methadone ‘liquid handcuffs,'” Baker said. “Life would have had to revolve around getting to that OTP.””And he said, ‘I just can’t do that Dad,'” Baker said.Dr. Sarah Wakeman, Senior Medical Director for Substance Use …