Four years ago, when Daniel Patrick Garrett was prescribed buprenorphine, a medication used to treat opioid use disorder, in 2019, he drove to 10 pharmacies before he found one that filled his prescription.
One told him his ID wasn't clear enough for them to confirm his identity, another wanted to put him on a pain management contract and a third pharmacy didn't accept the discount card he needed to use in order to afford the medication, Garrett said. The pharmacy he finally found to fill the prescription was a 100-mile round trip from his home in Martin, Tennessee. Once Garrett and his partner separated the next year and he lost access to a car, getting to the clinic became even more challenging.
