Addiction Treatment Changes; From Injections (Safe), to Daily Strips (Not So Much).
A BAD IDEA:
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IT REDUCES COSTS – WHILE INCREASING VIOLENCE AND DEATHS. HERE’S WHY. IT’S SIMPLE, REALLY,
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“Jails and prisons are not healthcare institutions.”
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An analysis of deaths in federal prison by the U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General found that 20 percent were due to drug overdose.
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Efficacy, on the medical side – it’s a no-brainer.
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THE PROBLEM;
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Medical and mental health care in prison is already poor,
These changes further erode the well-being of people who already struggle with substance abuse,
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“Monthly injections are safer for everyone,” says Andrea Brockman, a regional mental health ombudsman for a state correctional system and a clinical psychologist. “It protects participants from being beaten up, or worse, by people who want the oral strips to sell or use.”
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PS: The clinical guidelines have been removed from the BOP’s public website,
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BOP Associate Deputy Director Kathleen Toomey told the House the BOP is moving to lower-cost drugs where it’s medically appropriate, particularly those for medication-assisted treatment.” What’s left out is where cheap drugs are replaced with the cheapest drugs, resulting in strokes and Judges ordering Compassionate Release – no matter how rare.
- Whether the specific medications are available either On, or Non-Formulary, then this can be on the record through the PSR, Memorandum, and possibly verified by the judge. Then, if a medication is available (and cheap), it should be provided, not “arbitrarily changed or reduced.” Unfortunately, this occurred to an inmate where a Federal Judge had to step in and have him released from FCI Florence, in Florence, Colorado, to the nearest hospital as part of a Compassionate Request in court.
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Switching to Strips Provokes Intimidation and Violence
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FCI Waseca, a low-security federal women’s prison where the abuse of the strips is extensive,” people who really need the MAT program can’t get in, because the prison doesn’t have the proper resources.
“People are getting into MAT who do not belong; they are there to get stuff to sell.
Meanwhile, people who really need the MAT program can’t get in because the prison doesn’t have the proper resources.
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At Atwater penitentiary (among the first federal prisons to fully transition), the BOP implemented treatment changes from the highest-dose, 300-milligram (mg) shot, => to the lowest-dose, 2-mg strip. That’s Too Low – Too Fast.
WHY? A 2-mg suboxone strip “is quite low when you consider that one injection is equivalent to approximately 16-24 mg a day of the sublingual medication.”
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Victorville medium-security prison in California was reportedly placed in solitary confinement after overdosing a factor his friends believe contributed to his death by suicide, as the Prison Policy Initiative noted in their February report,
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Inventory and Physician Shortages
Strips could not be prescribed until each participant was seen by the doctor, who only comes one day a week.
Prisoners are locked into their cells during fog – no doc!
Then, there are inventory shortages.
“There’s about 80 guys who just started the MAT program without strips for the second week.”
Switching to a less-than-adequate dose causes withdrawal symptoms that often cause them to seek out stronger drugs.
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Prison Policy Initiative noted in a February 2025, Report,
“Correctional healthcare” differs from traditional healthcare as it prioritizes the needs of correctional facilities over those of incarcerated individuals. It operates more as a cost control system aimed at limiting expenses and avoiding lawsuits rather than genuinely caring for health. In this model, prisons are the primary customers, sidelining the health needs of the people within them.
Physician Presentence Report Service
Dr. Blatstein
240.888.7778
PPRSUS.com
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