Researchers at the University of Rhode Island College of Pharmacy, Rhode Island Hospital and Brown University found that pharmacists — not just physicians and clinicians at doctors’ offices — can safely and effectively start patients with opioid use disorder on lifesaving treatments without a prior visit to a physician. With more than 100,000 people dying in 2022 from overdose deaths and an ongoing opioid crisis stretching across the country, improving access to medications for opioid use disorder such as buprenorphine through pharmacists is a critical step. ...