Pharmacists with specialized training can now prescribe buprenorphine to treat opioid use disorder under a federal bill signed into law Dec. 1.
The provision is part of the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act of 2025, and allows the American Pharmacists Association and the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education to offer eight hours of continuing pharmacy education to fulfill federal requirements for prescribing buprenorphine. The law also ensures pharmacists can maintain DEA registration.
The American Pharmacists Association said in a Dec. 2 news release this is the first time it has been explicitly named in federal legislation. The law takes effect retroactively as if it were enacted Dec. 29, 2022, though pharmacists must still be authorized at the state level before completing the training.
The measure builds on prior legislation, including the MATE Act and the Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment Act, which removed the federal X-waiver requirement for prescribing buprenorphine.
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