ADA National Network Learning Session: Healthcare and Civil Rights in the Opioid Crisis: DOJ on Utilizing the ADA and other Civil Rights Laws

The opioid crisis has been an ongoing major issue in the United States. The treatment of those with opioid use disorder in both health systems and the criminal justice system has also raised civil rights concerns. This discussion will focus on how the Department of Justice (DOJ) has been using the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other federal civil rights statutes to address the opioid crisis.

Learning objectives:

• Detail how the criminal justice system and health systems routinely deny persons with opioid use disorder access to their medications, which perpetuates the opioid crisis.
• Describe how federal civil rights laws protects individuals with opioid use disorder and ensures access to medications used to treat their addiction.
• Summarize how the DOJ has been actively working to reduce these barriers using all available federal civil rights statutes.

Presenter:

Greg Dorchak is an Assistant United States Attorney in the Civil Rights Unit at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Massachusetts where he has worked since 2015. Greg also teaches disability rights at Boston University School of Law. Greg received his J.D. for Northeastern University and his Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.