In this series, we’re going to focus on: Should governments use opioid settlement money to cover medications for opioid use disorder/medication-assisted treatment (MAT/MOUD) in carceral settings?
Let’s get this out of the way first. At the Opioid Policy Institute (OPI), we’re thrilled that United States jails and prisons are expanding access to MAT/MOUD for people with an opioid addiction!
This is long overdue.
Providing medical care to incarcerated people is a moral, ethical, and legal obligation. Addiction treatment medications are medical care. Historically, people who have been recently incarcerated have faced an extremely high risk of overdose, in part because they were denied these medications while incarcerated. Access to these MAT/MOUD in carceral settings has been shown to drastically reduce this risk. Yet, for years, these evidence-based treatments were withheld. Even from those already prescribed them. This neglect is immoral, unethical, and illegal.
Because these medications were denied, minor charges like theft or disorderly conduct became death sentences. People continue to die as a result of this medical neglect.