I recently learned that Kentucky has obtained more than $1 billion in opioid settlement funds to date, which gave me hope.
The opioid problem has devastated people, families, and communities throughout our Commonwealth. These settlement funds can and should be used to fund life-saving and hope-restoring treatments, even if they cannot reverse the agony already experienced.
Crucially, a new federal law now mandates that all correctional facilities establish Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) programs, guaranteeing that prisoners with opioid use disorder have access to evidence-based treatments. To fulfill this need, the Boyd County Detention Center has previously adopted long-acting injectable (LAI) buprenorphine, specifically Sublocade, in conjunction with behavioral therapy.
Compared to daily sublingual films, monthly provider-administered injections have several advantages:
Get rid of the daily pharmacy pickups and medicine rounds to free up medical and correctional professionals for other important tasks.
carry almost no danger of diversion because the drug is regulated under FDA REMS procedures and forms a firm subdermal depot.
Eliminate the requirement for observed consumption, saving patients and officers from the inconvenience and embarrassment of routine oral examinations.
Maintain steady plasma levels to significantly improve treatment adherence by mitigating desire and withdrawal peaks and troughs.
Show excellent post-release results; one rural Maine facility reported that Sublocade users had no overdoses and three times the engagement in community follow-up treatment.
These benefits result in improved health and safety while incarcerated, as well as cost savings of almost $300,000 per patient in fewer emergency services and recidivism. This is important because, according to a recent Avalere Health report, untreated opioid use disorder still costs Kentucky more than $700,000 per person annually.
Now is the moment to give evidence-based, affordable treatments like Sublocade priority, especially with over $73 million coming in from the Purdue Pharma settlement and the new Federal MAT mandate. We can assist Kentuckians in taking back their lives, getting back in touch with their loved ones, and rejoining the workforce as healthy, contributing members of our communities by funding LAI buprenorphine programs in our correctional facilities and rehab facilities.
William Hensley is a jailer in Boyd County, Kentucky.
