Treatment of Opioid Dependence
The Maryland Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence (MATOD) began in the mid to late 1970s as the Medical Coordinating Team (MCT). This was a group of opioid treatment providers and other professionals treating opioid addiction at the time and was initially led by Richard Lane. Richard was the Executive Director of Man Alive, the first opioid treatment program in Maryland and the second in the United States. Other members were longtime advocates and mavericks in the opioid treatment field including:
- Robert Brooner (Addiction Treatment Services),
- Michael Hayes (Center for Addiction Medicine),
- Frank Satterfield (Glenwood Life),
- Carol Butler (Sinai Hospital Addictions Recovery Program and REACH),
- Todd Rosendale (Alcohol and Drug Abuse Administration),
- Herb Lodder (Archway),
- Karen Reese (Man Alive),
- Lauren McCaul (Addict Referral)
And others representing opioid treatment programs in the late 1970s and 1980s, and through much of the 1990s. No one is certain when the group changed its name to MATOD but believe it happened somewhere around 2001.
The MCT worked on efforts to improve and expand methadone maintenance treatment in Maryland. Part of the mission was advocacy and as such, the group pushed for better wages for counselors, more grant funds for treatment, and a higher rate for Medicaid payments for methadone treatment. The weekly bundled payment in the early 1980s was $15.00.
The mission also included improving treatment for those with opioid addiction and within medication assisted treatment programs by designing interventions to provide on-site alcoholism treatment, protocols for polysubstance use, services for patients with HIV/AIDS, and fewer restrictions for patients highly stable on methadone.
In addition, the group earned a reputation for vociferously advocating for the acceptance of methadone maintenance treatment by those in the medicine, legal, law enforcement and political communities.
The MCT was responsible for vetting candidates in Maryland and selected the finalist for consideration for the national Nyswander and Dole Award, a tradition that continues with MATOD. Maryland has had an award winner for most years since 1984, the year after the award was established and given to Vincent P. Dole and Marie Nyswander. This was at the time of the formation of what we now know as the American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence (AATOD), founded in 1984 as the Northeast Regional Methadone Treatment Coalition with the MCT as a founding member, which later evolved into the American Methadone Treatment Association and in 2001 became AATOD.
The MCT, now MATOD, continues to enjoy close relationships with national, state and local organizations including AATOD, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the Behavioral Health Administration (BHA), formerly the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Administration, and the Maryland Department of Health, formerly the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Advocacy, forwarding best practice, and anti-stigma activities have long been a part of the history of MATOD and continue as essential activities today. We will continue making history with your participation and support.
