A newly-proposed rule will be issued on March 29, 2016 by the Obama administration, with the intention of boosting treatment that will based on medication for numerous people who are opioid addicts.

The proposed rule comes amid the President Barack Obama’s scheduled trip to Atlanta, where the president will take part in a panel discussion at the National Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit. Dr. Sanjay Gupta will be moderating the discussion. Opioids are drugs that are extremely addictive and include prescription painkillers such as codeine and morphine, along with illegal substances, mainly heroin.

The death toll due to opioids crossed the mark of 29,000 in 2014, which is the record number. Obama aims to allocate $1.1 billion in new federal funds for the expansion of opioid addiction treatment measures. The expected fund is three times its current level. The reporters were stated that the additional funds being aimed at are evidence from Obama that “there is still a significant treatment gap for people who need it,” said the Director of the National Drug Control Policy at the White House, Michael Botticelli.

The funds being sought will be primarily used to finance the establishment of deals with states for boosting the medication-assisted treatment. Amid these measures, a proposed rule will be released by the Department of Health and Human Services, under which the physicians prescribing Buprenorphine can do so for 200 patients, double from the previous limit of 100 patients.

Guidance will be released by the department for programs under which intravenous drug addicts are permitted to exchange contaminated syringes for clean ones in an effort to avoid diseases caused by using dirty syringes. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released new rules under which physical therapy, exercise and over-the-counter pain drugs should be substituted for painkillers, such as morphine and oxycodone.