On July 24, 2025, President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 14321, titled “Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets” (“the E.O.”).
Although the E.O. has a number of elements, the one most notable for behavioral health stakeholders is a policy to increase use of involuntary commitment for mental health and substance use disorder treatment. The introduction proclaimed: “Shifting homeless individuals into long-term institutional settings for humane treatment through the appropriate use of civil commitment will restore public order.”
The backlash to the suggestion of a sweeping lock-up of people because of mental illness and addiction was swift and fierce. Many advocates and commenters immediately called out the E.O. as criminalizing mental illness, addiction, and homelessness. However, as a matter of federal policy, the civil commitment provision of the E.O. may have less impact than some of its other components.
Our colleagues Amy F. Lerman, Francesca R. Ozinal, and team have released the 2019 update to Epstein Becker Green’s Telemental Health Laws survey.
Available as a complimentary app for iPhone, iPad, and Android devices, the survey covers state telehealth laws, regulations, and policies within mental health.
For more about the survey findings, visit “Epstein Becker Green Finds Telehealth Services Are Increasingly Accessible to Mental Health Professionals Despite Legislative Barriers.”
Also see the "Telemental Health Laws: Overview" for more about the ...
The calls for utilizing telemedicine in battling the opioid crises in the U.S. are growing louder. On January 30, 2018, Senators Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), sent a letter to Robert W. Patterson, the Acting Administrator of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), urging the agency to promulgate regulations that would allow healthcare providers to prescribe medication-assisted treatments via telemedicine for persons with opioid dependence disorder.
The letter specifically addresses the Ryan Haight Online ...
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