For the first time in more than 20 years, the Department of Health and Human Services has updated its regulations on opioid drug treatment, which will give people with opioid use disorder more access to medications and telehealth to help them wean off drugs.

"The addiction treatment industry for a long time was very big on…everyone must detox, everyone must go inpatient. And while there's definitely a place for that, we know that the science actually shows medications for opioid use disorder – methadone, suboxone, vivitrol – can actually work. They don't have to go through those violent withdrawal processes," says Sarah Howroyd, MSW, LICSW, of CT Hope Initiative.

More than $33 million from a $350 million lawsuit settlement, paid by an ad agency that worked on Purdue Pharma's OxyContin, is coming to the tri-state area within the next two months. A total of 85% is designed for opioid addiction prevention, intervention, treatment and recovery.