The top addiction researcher in the U.S. government is calling for the broad deregulation of methadone — a medication that can reduce dependency on opioids — in a major departure from how it is currently made available.  Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), made the comments Wednesday during the annual STAT Summit, a two-day event that gathers experts in various health and medical fields. Volkow addressed the summit Wednesday afternoon about "facing the addiction epidemic" in the U.S.  In her comments, as reported by STAT News, Volkow was clear about her desire for methadone to be available by prescription. Currently, people who use methadone are required to go to clinics daily to get the medication, and the specialized clinics are few and far between in some areas.  "There's absolutely no reason why not [to allow prescription of methadone]," Volkow told the summit, according to Stat News. "There are countries where physicians are providing methadone an