Rural jail offers newly released prisoners with addiction disorders a long-lasting drug to prevent relapse

In rural Maine, a county jail began giving a long-lasting form of buprenorphine to inmates with drug addictions before they left incarceration. The medicine, which curbs opioid cravings for 28 days, helps past inmates avoid "withdrawal, relapse and overdose — dangers that newly released prisoners confront nationwide," reports Jan Hoffman of The New York Times. 

Once out of jail, addiction sufferers can face several obstacles to staying in recovery while re-entering their communities. Maine's Somerset County sheriff, Dale P. Lancaster, was discouraged by the number of inmates who would leave prison and die from overdoses. Lancaster pushed for the extended-release medical treatment. Hoffman writes, "According to a recent analysis in Health and Justice, the switch had a remarkable effect. The long-acting injection afforded newly released prisoners a crucial buffer period after they were discharged, with more time to set up continuing addiction treatment and stabilize their lives."

People suffering from drug addictions are more likely to end up on the wrong end of the judicial system. "Of the more than 1.2 million prisoners in the United States, up to 65 percent of prisoners have active substance use disorders, according to some studies," Hoffman explains. And while those institutions have an opportunity to treat the addicted, few have the resources or staffing. In the case of extended-release shots of buprenorphine, known as Sublocade, the treatment's cost remains a big barrier, with the list price for a monthly injection about $2,000, while a month's supply of pills ranges from $90 to $360.