Key Points

  • The Senate unanimously passed two bipartisan bills on September 25, 2026: the John A. Hauser Mental Health in Aviation Act, which directs the FAA to modernize mental health guidance and the special-issuance medical certification process, and the Aviation Medication Transparency Act, which would require the FAA to publish a plain-language list of approved medications within one year, updated annually.
  • Under current FAA rules, about 20% of pilots and air traffic controllers who report a mental health diagnosis are initially disqualified and cannot work until their case is resolved. Getting cleared to fly on an antidepressant can take more than a year, a timeline the Airline Pilots Association says keeps people from seeking help.
  • A survey of 1,442 U.S. adults published in JAMA Health Forum found lower public support for the rights of people with substance use disorders than for people with severe physical disabilities on every measure tested. Support for the right to run for political office was 41% for people with substance use disorders compared with 63% for people with physical disabilities.
  • Respondents with their own behavioral health care experience were more likely to support the rights of people with substance use disorders, suggesting that personal contact with the system reduces stigma.
  • Methamphetamine was involved in nearly a third of U.S. overdose deaths between January 2021 and June 2024. No FDA-approved medication exists for methamphetamine use disorder.
  • A Denver Health randomized trial found that nearly two-thirds of patients assigned a care navigator met with their navigator at least twice, but treatment linkage within 90 days did not improve significantly compared with usual care (33% vs. 25%). Dr. Sylvie Stacy says the gap reflects a treatment system built around opioids, leaving stimulant use disorder without a medication bridge equivalent to what buprenorphine provides for opioid use disorder.

Addiction News Weekly Episode 1.21

In This Episode:

Episode Transcript

Welcome to Addiction News Weekly by Rehab.com, where we break down the biggest stories in addiction, recovery, and public health this week. The Senate votes to make it easier for pilots and air traffic controllers to get mental health care without losing their jobs, a national survey finds Americans are less willing to back basic rights for people with substance use disorders, and a Denver trial tries to find a new way to connect people who use methamphetamine with treatment. Let’s get into it.

Senate Passes Mental Health Bills for Pilots and Air Traffic Controllers

We start up in the air. Late last month, the U.S. Senate passed two bipartisan bills aimed at pilots and air traffic controllers who need mental health care. Both passed by unanimous consent, and both were sponsored by Senators John Hoeven of North Dakota and Tammy Duckworth of Illinois.1

The first is the John A. Hauser Mental Health in Aviation Act. Named for a University of North Dakota aviation student who died by suicide in 2021, it directs the FAA to modernize how mental health is handled in pilot and controller medical certification. The second, the Aviation Medication Transparency Act, would require the FAA to publish a plain language list of approved medications within a year and update it every year.

Under the current rules, pilots and controllers must disclose mental health treatment. According to an FAA advisory committee, about 20% of those who report a mental health diagnosis are initially disqualified and cannot work until their case is resolved.

Getting cleared to fly on an antidepressant can take more than a year. The Airline Pilots Association says those delays discourage pilots from seeking help at all. The bills now go to the House.

If you work in aviation or any job with medical rules tied to safety, one thing holds no matter what Congress does. Do not stop or change a prescribed medication on your own. Talk it through with a clinician who understands both your health and the requirements of your job.

Americans Support Fewer Rights for People With Substance Use Disorders

Our second story is about how the public sees people with mental illness and addiction. A study published in JAMA Health Forum led by Dr. Jessica Williams surveyed 1,442 U.S. adults in early 2025 and asked whether people with severe physical disabilities, severe mental illness, or substance use disorders should have the same basic rights. Support was lower for mental illness and substance use every time.2

Take the right to live independently. 79% of respondents supported it for people with severe physical disabilities. For people with substance use disorders, it was about 68%.

The gap was wider on civil rights. About 63% supported the right of a person with a severe physical disability to run for political office. For a person with a substance use disorder, it was 41%.

One finding points the other way. Respondents with their own experience in behavioral health care were more supportive. That matters because these attitudes reach into housing, jobs, and the courts, and they are part of why people keep a substance use problem hidden instead of looking for treatment.

Denver Meth Trial Shows Care Navigation Falls Short of Treatment Linkage

Our last story is about what happens once someone is in front of a care team. Methamphetamine was involved in nearly a third of U.S. overdose deaths between January 2021 and June 2024, and there is still no FDA-approved medication for methamphetamine use disorder. Researchers at Denver Health tested another route in a randomized trial published in JAMA Network Open.3

They enrolled 192 patients who came in through acute care. Half were assigned a dedicated care navigator who helped with housing, transportation, food, phones, and paperwork. The navigator also used contingency management, meaning small cash prizes for showing up.

Patients did show up. Nearly two-thirds of the navigation group met with the navigator at least twice, but the program did not significantly increase how many patients connected with treatment within 30 or 90 days. At 90 days, 33% of the navigation group had linked to treatment compared with 25% in usual care, a difference too small to rule out random chance.

Lead researcher Alia Al-Tayyeb said the results show there isn’t a one-size-fits-all path to treatment. Here is Rehab.com medical officer Dr. Sylvie Stacy with her take on this.

When you look at this trial, this is something that many academics might call a negative study, and that means the intervention didn’t produce a statistically significant result, in this case, an increase in the 30 or 90-day treatment connection.

But for those of us who work in clinical addiction medicine, that’s not necessarily the primary takeaway here. Let’s start by talking about the patient population. 85% were unstably housed. More than 80% were unemployed. About half didn’t have reliable access to a phone. So these are individuals who were having to manage acute daily survival needs, but nearly two-thirds of those in the navigation group came back to meet with their navigator at least twice.

Based on what we know about addictions, especially in people with the challenges that this group faced, getting patients with a severe stimulant use disorder to return for a voluntary follow-up visit, it’s actually a really excellent thing, and it’s a notable finding here. So the overall negative result of this study isn’t because the patients refused to engage in care, but rather it’s that transition into formal treatment. That’s essentially a breakdown point here.

So why does that breakdown happen? Well, first, our addictions treatment processes are still largely built around opioids. In an emergency department or a hospital setting, if someone presents with opioid addiction, we can initiate buprenorphine right away, and that manages withdrawal, and it stabilizes them, and it gives us this bridge to outpatient care. With methamphetamine, though, we still don’t have an FDA-approved medication, so we don’t have that immediate kind of anchor point in treatment.

And then second, the gold standard behavioral treatment for stimulant use disorder is contingency management. The researchers here, they used incentives to try to drive those navigation visits, but most community-based outpatient programs simply don’t offer contingency management. Instead, many programs will often expect patients to show up multiple times per week for intensive group counseling.

And if someone is unhoused or doesn’t have reliable transportation or a phone, that hurdle is really difficult and sometimes even insurmountable. A navigator can provide guidance and build trust, but they can’t really bridge a patient to a service delivery model that doesn’t fit in with that patient’s life. So if we want better linkage rates for stimulant use disorders, we really need to continue to try to lower program thresholds and provide resources for socioeconomic issues and, when possible, use contingency management in community clinics.

Conclusion

All three of these stories come back to a singular principle. What it costs a person to ask for help. For a pilot, it can mean a career on hold. For someone with a substance use disorder, it can mean being judged as less deserving or needing a phone and a place to sleep before treatment is even within reach. The lower that costs, the sooner people can get care.

If you or a loved one is looking for treatment, Rehab.com lists thousands of verified centers across the country and free confidential support is available anytime through the SAMHSA National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357.

And if you are in crisis, you can call or text 988 at any time. Those are the top stories in the news. For more, visit Rehab.com. We’ll be back next week.

I’m Kay, and thank you for listening.

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Sources in This Episode

  1. AOPA Staff. Senate unanimously approves mental health, medication bills. AOPA. Published September 30, 2026. https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2026/september/30/senate-unanimously-approves-mental-health-medication-bills. Accessed October 20, 2026.
  2. Williams J, et al. JAMA Health Forum. 2026. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama-health-forum/fullarticle/2854593. Accessed October 20, 2026.
  3. Al-Tayyeb A, et al. JAMA Network Open. 2026.
Dr. Sylvie Stacy Written By: Dr. Sylvie Stacy MD, MPH Chief Medical Officer
Sylvie Stacy, MD, MPH, Medical Officer at Rehab.com, is a board-certified addiction medicine specialist with over a decade of experience treating individuals with addictions in diverse clinical settings including residential treatment programs, detox centers, outpatient clinics, and correctional facilities.