“Inside Rhode Island’s Adult Correctional Institutions in this Providence suburb, while facing a felony charge of drug possession with intent to deliver, Roussell was offered a chance to break his addiction through a groundbreaking new program. “I was very surprised to find out that I was able to have methadone in prison,” he says.
Every day while locked up, Roussell drank a 55-milligram dose of methadone, the medicine doctors have used for 50 years to help people get off heroin. “It was very comfortable, very helpful,” says Roussell.
Roussell got treatment for his addiction in prison because, two years ago, Rhode Island decided to do something no other state has done. In 2016, it began offering its prison inmates all three medications approved to treat opioid addiction: methadone, Suboxone, and Vivitrol. About 350 Rhode Island prisoners each month take one of the three medicines. Crucially, they continue their treatment after their release, usually through the state’s Medicaid program, when they’re at the greatest risk of a relapse and a fatal overdose.”
Read more: https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/08/25/rhode-island-opioids-inmates-219594
Source: Politico.com – August 25, 2018
