Whatcom County Jail to provide medications to inmates to treat opioid addiction

BELLINGHAM, Wash. — The Whatcom County Jail has agreed to settle a class-action civil rights lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Washington.

As part of the settlement, people in the jail with opioid use disorder will receive the medications necessary to treat their addiction.

Opioid use disorder is defined as a "chronic lifelong disorder, with serious potential consequences including disability, relapses, and death," according to psychiatry.org.

The ACLU of Washington filed the lawsuit in June 2018.

Those in the jail with opioid use disorder will receive medically-assisted treatment (MAT) services including Suboxone, Subutex and Vivitrol.

In its lawsuit, the ACLU of Washington challenged the jail's refusal to provide people with MAT services even though they provide other approved medications to patients.

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Services will also include "maintaining people on MAT prescription medications they were already using in the community, as well as starting qualifying people on medication in the jail before release," officials with the ACLU of Washington wrote in a news release.

ACLU of Washington officials also said the jail has been working closely with MAT providers to ensure people will be able to continue treatment upon release.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse says evidence shows MAT prescriptions "reduce opioid use and opioid use disorder-related symptoms, and they reduce the risk of infectious disease transmission as well as criminal behavior associated with drug use."

According to officials with the ACLU of Washington, many people need to remain on MAT prescriptions for years, and in certain cases their entire lives, to decrease the risk for relapse and overdose.

"When people who are getting medication-assisted treatment for their opioid use disorder are able to stay on the medicine, the entire community is better off," said Mark Cooke of the ACLU WA's Campaign for Smart Justice.

"We're glad that Whatcom County has taken steps to help people in their efforts to overcome opioid addiction. The policy changes at the jail will save lives."

Federal judges in Massachusetts and Maine have recently ordered jails to provide MAT services to specific inmates with OUD upon entering incarceration.

However, the settlement with Whatcom County Jail is the first time “that class-action litigation has resulted in a jail changing its policy to provide MAT to all individuals with a medical need for it,” officials with the ACLU of Washington said.

Cox Media Group