As a child, Derek Scott always dreamed about becoming a lawyer, but he never expected a prescription to prevent him from getting the job.

Scott had struggled for years with opioid addiction before enrolling in college at age 32. Buprenorphine, an FDA-approved medication that curbs withdrawal symptoms and cravings, gave him a sense of normalcy and set him on the path to law school. His future, however, would come to hinge on a choice that didn’t feel like much of a choice at all: get off the medication that protected him from relapse and attend abstinence-only treatment, or lose his chance to become a lawyer.

Discrimination against people who use medication to treat their opioid use disorder is rampant, experts say. The Justice Department is trying to change that.