I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3634

To amend the Controlled Substances Act to lift the patient limitation on 

prescribing drug addiction treatments by medical practitioners in group 

practices, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 21, 2003

Mr. SOUDER (for himself, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia, Mr. 

SCOTT of Virginia, Mr. BALLENGER, Mr. TERRY, Mr. ACEVEDO-VILA ́, 

Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. PORTMAN, and Mr. BOOZMAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period 

to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 

concerned 

A BILL

To amend the Controlled Substances Act to lift the patient 

limitation on prescribing drug addiction treatments by 

medical practitioners in group practices, and for other 

purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Drug Addiction Treat5 ment Expansion Act of 2003’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 The Congress finds as follows: 

3 (1) Addiction to and abuse of opiates has dev4 astating repercussions for individuals, families, and 

5 the country. The health and social consequences of 

6 drug abuse include risk of HIV/AIDS and other 

7 health impacts, as well as repercussions for families, 

8 schools, the workplace, and prisons. 

9 (2) According to household surveys, younger 

10 and wider segments of the population are abusing 

11 heroin. Heroin was the leading illicit drug among 

12 treatment admissions in 2000, reported by 15 per13 cent of the 1.6 million substance abuse treatment 

14 admissions. 

15 (3) Between 1992 and 2000, heroin admissions 

16 for treatment increased by 44 percent, and the num17 ber of admissions for new users increased by 52 per18 cent. Most disturbing, the proportion of new heroin 

19 users admitted for treatment who were under age 25 

20 grew from 30 to 41 percent from 1992 to 2000. In 

21 1992, 48 percent of new heroin users age 18 to 24 

22 reported injection as the route of administration. By 

23 2000, that figure had grown to 63 percent. 

24 (4) Between 81 and 86 percent of new heroin 

25 users admitted for treatment have reported daily 

26 heroin use since 1992. Substantial numbers of her-
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1 oin users also abuse other drugs, chiefly including 

2 cocaine and marijuana. 

3 (5) Abuse of narcotic pain medications is also 

4 a serious and increasing problem. According to the 

5 Drug Abuse Warning Network (‘‘DAWN’’), drug6 abuse-related emergency room visits attributable to 

7 abuse of narcotic pain medications rose 45 percent 

8 from 2000 to 2002, and 20 percent over just one 

9 year from 2001 to 2002. Stemming and preventing 

10 such prescription medication abuse will require a 

11 multi-pronged approach, including major educational 

12 efforts and an increase of substance abuse treatment 

13 options and capacity. 

14 (6) The Nation has had a longstanding goal of 

15 reducing the myriad costs to society of drug addic16 tion, and increasing access to addiction treatment. 

17 (7) The National Institute on Drug Abuse has 

18 had a longstanding research and development pro19 gram, designed to increase the availability of viable 

20 therapeutic interventions for drug addiction. 

21 (8) The availability of new therapies and new 

22 methods of providing therapy will both reach new 

23 populations and increase the amount of treatment 

24 capacity available. 
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1 (9) Congress, recognizing the crucial impor2 tance of expanding drug addiction treatment options 

3 and capacity, enacted the Drug Addiction Treatment 

4 Act of 2000 (‘‘DATA law’’) (title XXXV of the Chil5 dren’s Health Act of 2000; Public Law 106–310) to 

6 allow qualified practitioners to prescribe addiction 

7 treatment medications from their office settings as 

8 long as the number of patients to whom the practi9 tioners provide such treatment does not exceed 30 

10 patients. 

11 (10) Since enactment of the DATA law, a new 

12 treatment option already has been approved by the 

13 Food and Drug Administration and is now available 

14 for qualified practitioners to prescribe for their pa15 tients, as a direct result of the commitment of Con16 gress and the Federal Government to reduce the so17 cial and personal impact of the illness of drug addic18 tion. 

19 (11) For practitioners in a group practice, the 

20 DATA law established a single 30-patient limit for 

21 the entire group practice, rather than a 30-patient 

22 limit per practitioner. Qualified and trained practi23 tioners practicing addiction treatment in group prac24 tice settings and academic health centers have real25 ized an unexpected negative impact on their ability 
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1 to serve their patients effectively and as anticipated 

2 by the DATA law, as a result of the law’s patient 

3 limitation on group practices. 

4 (12) Neither Congress nor the DATA law in5 tended that the quality of care would be less for pa6 tients receiving care in group practices, which are a 

7 principal mode of health care delivery in the United 

8 States. 

9 (13) The DATA law’s 30-patient limit on group 

10 practices is having the unintended consequence of 

11 denying addiction treatment to patients who seek 

12 and require it, in direct contrast to the overall pur13 pose of such law. 

14 SEC. 3. MAINTENANCE OR DETOXIFICATION TREATMENT 

15 WITH CERTAIN NARCOTIC DRUGS; ELIMI16 NATION OF 30-PATIENT LIMIT FOR GROUP 

17 PRACTICES. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 303(g)(2)(B) of the Con19 trolled Substance Act (21 U.S.C. 823(g)(2)(B)) is amend20 ed by striking clause (iv). 

21 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 

22 303(g)(2)(B) of the Controlled Substance Act (21 U.S.C. 

23 823(g)(2)(B)) is amended in clause (iii) by striking ‘‘In 
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1 any case’’ and all that follows through ‘‘the total’’ and 

2 inserting ‘‘The total’’.

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