Why It's Inappropriate Not to Treat Incarcerated Patients with Opioid Agonist Therapy.

AMA J Ethics

the medical director for the Massachusetts General Hospital Substance Use Disorder Initiative in Boston, and program director of the Addiction Medicine Fellowship, medical director of the Addiction Consult Team, and co-chair of the Opioid Task Force, and an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a clinical lead of the Partners Healthcare Substance Use Disorder Initiative.

Published: September 2017

Due to the criminalization of drug use and addiction, opioid use disorder is overrepresented in incarcerated populations. Decades of evidence supports opioid agonist therapy as a highly effective treatment that improves clinical outcomes and reduces illicit opioid use, overdose death, and cost. Opioid agonist therapy has been both studied within correctional facilities and initiated prerelease. It has been found to be beneficial, yet few incarcerated persons receive this evidence-based treatment. In addition to not offering treatment initiation for those who need it, most correctional facilities forcibly withdraw stable patients from opioid agonist therapy upon their entry into the criminal justice system. This approach limits their access to evidence-based health care and results in negative outcomes for individuals, communities, and society.

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/journalofethics.2017.19.9.stas1-1709DOI Listing

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