Title
Withholding methadone from inmates is wrong
UMMS Affiliation
Commonwealth Medicine, Health and Criminal Justice Program; Department of Family Medicine and Community Health
Publication Date
2018-06-07
Document Type
Editorial
Disciplines
Criminology and Criminal Justice | Health Economics | Health Law and Policy | Health Policy | Health Services Administration | Health Services Research | Substance Abuse and Addiction
Abstract
$1.2 billion in taxpayer dollars will be spent on incarcerated individuals in the Commonwealth this year alone. Warren Ferguson, the board chair of the Academic Consortium on Criminal Justice Health, believes that spending a portion of this amount on methadone, a drug used to treat opioid use disorders, could have dramatic positive results on the 1/3 of inmates with narcotic addictions in Massachusetts prisons. Despite the 45-year long history of success methadone has had in treating opioid use disorders, the drug has yet to be approved for use in this state.
Keywords
Behavioral Health, Justice-Involved Populations, Opioid Management, Pharmacy
Source
CommonWealth Magazine, June 7, 2018
Journal/Book/Conference Title
CommonWealth Magazine
Repository Citation
Ferguson WJ. (2018). Withholding methadone from inmates is wrong. Commonwealth Medicine Publications. Retrieved from https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/commed_pubs/201