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

Link to Full Text

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