Advocates Call on State to Offer Buprenorphine to Opioid Addicts in Jails, Prisons (Baltimore Sun)

Monday Jul 25th, 2016

As opioid addiction rises, public health advocates in Maryland are calling for more treatment where many addicts end up: in jails and prisons.

In Maryland, only Baltimore and a few counties offer any treatment in their jails. The state-run jail in Baltimore offers only detoxification. The state offers some counseling in its prisons and continues detox for 21 days. But advocates and treatment professionals say it's not enough to keep addicts off the drugs over the long term.

Addressing addiction more comprehensively, advocates say, with a wider variety of medications and continuing counseling, could not only cut addiction rates but reduce crime and the spread of infectious disease such as HIV and hepatitis.

 

Read More at: http://www.baltimoresun.com/health/bs-hs-bupe-in-jails-20160725-story.html

Related Stories

Lead poisoning cases fell 19 percent in Baltimore last year, even as more children tested for exposure (Baltimore Sun)

The number of Baltimore children with lead poisoning fell 19 percent in 2017, even as more children were tested for exposure to the powerful neurotoxin.

Statewide, the number of Maryland children found to have elevated levels of lead in their blood held steady even as the number of children tested increased by 10 percent, according to a Maryland Department of the Environment report released Tuesday.

Read the entire story.

Azar Unveils Plan to Help Pregnant Patients Quit Opioids (MedPage Today)

States will get help from the federal government integrating services for pregnant and postpartum Medicaid patients with opioid use disorder under a pilot program announced Tuesday by Health and Hu

Trump declared an emergency over opioids. A new report finds it led to very little. (Vox)

To much fanfare last year, President Donald Trump ordered his administration to declare a public health emergency over the opioid epidemic. “As Americans, we cannot allow this to continue,” Trump said at the time. “It is time to liberate our communities from this scourge of drug addiction.”

When I’ve asked experts about these approaches, it’s not that any of them are bad. It’s that they fall short. For instance, Leana Wen, the former health commissioner of Baltimore (and soon-to-be president of Planned Parenthood), said that the Support for Patients and Communities Act “is simply tinkering around the edges.”

Read the entire story.

Visit the Newsroom