Task force views new program as an answer for opiate addiction
As the number of deaths due to opioid overdoses continues to skyrocket, Washington County Opioid Task Force has obtained a $148,000 grant to try to break the cycle of addiction and crime with a combination of medicine and treatment.
Members of Washington County Prison Board learned Wednesday of a program that will offer what Washington County District Attorney Gene Vittone called “a seamless transition from jail-based treatment to intensive outpatient treatment upon release.”
“It’s got to work better than what we’re doing,” said Vittone, who is a member of the county prison board.
In 2016, 109 people died from drug overdoses in Washington County. In 2015 there were 73 overdose deaths, and in 2014 there were 36, according to a report from the Washington County coroner’s office. Last year, more than 30 percent of the criminal complaints filed in Washington County were related to heroin or other opioids. It also was the first year heroin and/or opioids were the most frequently cited substance in criminal complaints. Before that, alcohol was responsible for most of the drug-related criminal complaints in the county.
The medicine eyed by the task force is naltrexone, known by the trade name Vivitrol. It is a “opioid antagonist,” which means it attaches to the brain’s opioid and alcohol receptors but does not cause a “high” or lead to dependence. Addicts are injected with it once a month.
The extended-release medication is used after detoxification and just before an inmate is released from jail. Statistics show that a number of addicts have died from taking drugs just after their release from incarceration, probably because at that time, they had a lowered tolerance.
“One of the first things we looked at was who’s dying,” Vittone said. “It’s people coming out of jail and people coming out of treatment.”
Sending an inmate out onto the sidewalk with a bag of clothing isn’t enough, Vittone said, and what concerns him as a prosecutor is what’s known in criminal justice circles as “recidivism,” a vicious cycle of committing crimes, being arrested, serving a sentence and repeating the exact pattern after release from incarceration.
A proposal for the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency grant was shepherded through the system with assistance provided by Vittone and state Rep. Brandon Newman. It was submitted in December to provide in-facility treatment to nonviolent jailed addicts. Alkermes, the Vivitrol manufacturer, has agreed to provide the first injection free of charge to the inmates, who will be monitored by the Washington County Adult Probation Office as far as keeping appointments for treatment and compliance with ongoing medication.
Jail Warden Edward Strawn on Wednesday asked the members of the prison board for permission to request qualifications from organizations interested in administering a comprehensive, medically assisted opioid treatment program.
Strawn said Vivitrol has been tried in Barnstable, Mass., which, according to its website, has seen 82 percent of those treated with Vivitrol staying out of the Barnstable County Correctional Facility. A similar treatment program is used in Kenton County, Ky.