New York Jail Gets Kudos for Drug Addiction Treatment
Tompkins jail in upstate New York is the only jail in the area to use meds to help heroin addicts kick dope while they are incarcerated, according to Stacey Shackford at The Ithaca Journal. They are using the most recently FDA-approved opiate addiction treatment, buprenorphine, to treat heroin addiction in jail.
Human Rights Watch, a nonprofit organization, has pointed to Tompkins’ buprenorphine program as a successful approach to the issue of drug addiction in jail. They say that more states would benefit from following suit.
Tompkins’ Drug Addiction Treatment Program
If Tompkins is any indication, treating heroin addiction while inmates are incarcerated not only decreases the number of problems and trafficking inside prison walls but also serves to cut back the recidivism rate when they are released.
Dr. John Bezirganian is Tompkins’ mental health director. He founded the facility’s opiate addiction treatment program a few years ago. He started by offering the buprenorphine program to inmates about 30 days before they were to be released; new inmates have the option of starting on buprenorphine when they arrive. When they go home, they have a 30-day supply of the drug in their pocket as well as a referral to a provider local to their hometown who will continue their care.
Buprenorphine and Opiate Addiction Treatment
Buprenorphine does not have the abuse potential that methadone does and is therefore a great candidate for opiate addiction treatment, especially in the jail system. You can’t get addicted to it and it has a ceiling on it so you can’t increase its effect by taking more. This also means that there are no documented cases of buprenorphine overdose, either, and if someone tries to abuse it by crushing it and shooting the drug, then they will immediately be thrown into opiate withdrawal due to a component of the drug inserted specifically to protect against such abuse. In the same way, it stays bound to opiate receptors for two or three days after use so relapse will be ineffective. In short, the only person who would want this drug is someone who wants to stave off withdrawal symptoms during opiate detox, not anyone who would want to get high.
What Do You Think?
Do you think that treating heroin and painkiller addiction in prisons and jails is an effective use of funds? Do you think the buprenorphine specifically is a positive choice for these programs? What do you think?
Tags: heroin addiction treatment, heroin rehab, opiate addiction, opiate addiction treatment, opiate rehab
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