Comprehensive Addiction & Recovery Act – A Healthy Dose Of Skepticism Required

On July 14, 2016 the U.S. Senate passed the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016 (CARA) and the Act was sent to the President’s desk to be signed into the law. CARA is being hailed as the most comprehensive reform of addiction in decades and the first to treat addiction as a disease rather than a crime. But what is actually in the Act and what are its implications?

There are four major provisions of the Act:

A series of grants aimed at preventing and treating addiction to opioids
A Medicare drug management program for at-risk . . .