White House launches website to help people find addiction treatment

The White House on Wednesday launched a website aimed at making it easier for people to find addiction treatment, with a particular focus on fighting the opioid epidemic. 

The website findtreatment.gov provides an easier way for people seeking treatment for addiction to find providers near them, officials said. The searches are customizable to allow people to search for a particular type of treatment or to find a provider that takes their insurance, such as Medicaid. 

{mosads}White House adviser Kellyanne Conway, who has helped lead the administration’s efforts to fight the opioid epidemic, said the announcement was the “latest building block” in their response. 

“Too often people will just type into a search bar ‘need treatment,’” Conway said on a call with reporters. “For years, if not decades, there has been an insufficient response to such a search.”

Officials said the last major overhaul of the treatment search website hosted by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) was in 2002, and this update will make the system much easier to use. 

The website will show thousands of medical providers, which officials said are regulated and certified at the state level. 

“If treatment options are not readily accessible and available then opportunity may be lost,” said Elinore McCance-Katz, the head of SAMHSA. 

More than 70,000 people died of a drug overdose in 2017, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.