Pubdate: Sun, 04 Dec 2005
Source: Santa Fe New Mexican (NM)
Copyright: 2005 The Santa Fe New Mexican
Contact:  http://www.sfnewmexican.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/695
Author: Julie Ann Grimm
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hr.htm (Harm Reduction)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone)
Note: Website includes numerous comments on this story

COUNTY MIGHT TRY METHADONE TREATMENT TO HELP CURB DRUG USE

Santa Fe County is considering a program to supply inmates with 
methadone, a drug used to treat heroin addicts.

The jail might become one of the first in the nation to start inmates 
on the prescription medicine that staves off withdrawal and can help 
addicts break away from illegal drugs.

Many correctional institutions allow methadone providers to treat 
inmates who are already taking the drug.

"You can't arrest this problem away, and you can't make people get 
help. People are dying. There are all of these issues," explained 
Philip Fuity, director of the Health Department's Harm Reduction 
Program, which is working with the county on the methadone project. 
"In jails and prisons, people are looking for solutions."

Fuity said opiate-replacement therapy involves giving legal medicine 
- -- methadone or a similar drug, bubrenorphine -- to an individual in 
regulated doses daily. The drugs stabilize the part of the brain that 
releases endorphins, a bodily function that is usually stunted by 
sustained heroin use. They also allow a user to participate in society again.

"What happens is, the more somebody gets involved in illicit-drug 
use, the more and more they become disenfranchised from society as a 
whole," he said, noting that addicts sometimes don't seek medical 
care or social services because they are treated like criminals. "If 
you go to replacement therapy, that automatically reconnects that 
person with services so they are not just getting a drink of medicine 
and going away. They have to start counseling, and there are a 
million other services they can access."

The Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center is already 
working with the Health Department on a program to increase jailhouse 
methadone distribution through a private company. Fuity said that 
program will likely begin this month.

But not everyone favors opiate-replacement therapy.

"Heroin is one of the toughest (drugs) to kick, and there is a lot of 
controversy around it," said Yolanda Briscoe, director of the Santa 
Fe Recovery Center, which does not offer the treatment. "We have 
clinicians that think it is just replacing one drug for another, and 
we have some that say, 'Let's do it because it's that or death.' "

Corrections Department Director Gregg Parrish said he wants Health 
Department services to be available at the jail, but he will talk 
with county officials before deciding whether opiate-replacement is 
appropriate there. The department has already trained some guards and 
medical personnel to use Narcan, an injection that can keep someone 
from dying during a heroin overdose.

Parrish said one issue to consider is whether methadone distribution 
would put an additional burden on the jail's already-taxed medical 
unit. Dr. Laura Kay, the health-care administrator, said nurses now 
deliver some kind of medication on a daily basis to about 60 percent of inmates.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman