opioid addiction treatment

The RSAT programs at the Florence McClure Women’s Correctional, STARS (Sisters Together Achieving Recovery and Sobriety) and New Light, are two of five therapeutic community RSAT programs offered within the Nevada Department of Corrections. STARS and New Light are co-located in House 9 of the facility, constituting a specialized 120-bed intensive residential substance use disorder (SUD) program.

The Santa Cruz Sheriff's Office (SCSO) RSAT program at Blaine Street Women’s Facility provides a gender-responsive substance use treatment and reentry program. The facility offers all three FDA approved medications for opioid use disorder as part of a medication-assisted treatment (MAT) program. The program was designed to better address the needs of an increasing number of incarcerated women with serious, chronic substance use disorder (SUD), the high rate of SUD in Santa Cruz County, and the percentage of incarcerated women who have complex barriers to successful reentry.

To reduce the risk of opioid overdose and death when reentering the community after incarceration, individuals with opioid use disorder who are incarcerated should have access to jail-provided medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) – methadone, buprenorphine, and naltrexone – and are promptly connected to services in the community upon release. Planning for reentry from jail is challenging under normal circumstances but is even more challenging when people are admitted and released within days.

In recent years, there has been alarming growth in methamphetamine (meth) and cocaine use and their involvement in overdose fatalities. In 2004, they were the most common illicit drugs used by state and federal prison inmates and convicted jail inmates. However, usage steadily declined among arrestees for more than a decade and was overtaken by opioids. The “meth problem” never really disappeared, and it began to accelerate around 2013, a trend that is expected to continue.

For decades, drug courts have been the leading model serving justice-involved individuals with opioid use disorders, and they continue to play a role in combating the overdose crisis. Drug courts alone, however, are not enough. New courtroom and community-based strategies are needed to ensure swift linkages to evidence-based treatments — including medications for opioid use disorder — wraparound supports, and harm reduction services.

Lieutenant Herring asked for resources to compare their coordinator position responsibilities and pay to comparable positions throughout the Country.

The project director for the COAP (former BJA series) grant in our office at the TN Dept of Health contacted CHJ after a webinar we conducted on drug endangered children. The agency wanted CHJ to connect them to an agency that has experience collecting data on drug endangered children. They are specifically interested in how they are using the data they collect to identify or proactively address families that are at risk.

This training workshop was delivered at the 2020 COSSAP National Forum on March 11th. In this workshop, panelists illustrated the importance of creating a multi-level community response to children impacted by addiction. Presenters discussed efforts in their jurisdictions to intervene with children at-risk for neglect or abuse due to opioid use in their homes as well as address the needs of these children through trauma-informed care. Participants in this training will recognize the diverse needs of children of addicted parents.

The Law Enforcement/First Responder Diversion and Referral Mentoring Initiative provides communities interested in starting diversion and/or referral programs the opportunity to learn from established or innovative programs that have shown success in meeting the treatment needs of individuals with a substance use disorder, and in some cases an overdose. There are eight sites that have been chosen to act as mentors for newer programs that are trying to establish a first responder diversion program.

The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) recently announced the creation of the Law Enforcement/First Responder Diversion Mentor Program, scheduled to begin on October 1, 2019.