Rhode Island professor of medicine and community health, Josiah Rich views treating those incarcerated as the correct thing to do. Dr Rich has been treating inmates for over 16 years, and does not question whether an inmate has done something wrong, but whether the US is doing something worse by not offering substance abuse treatment throughout its prisons
system.
Dr Rich decries the present non-treatment policy of most prisons as a blatant failure to cure prisoners of their addictions and thereby reducing the recidivism rate. According to the DEA, the recidivism rate would drop from 50% to 20% if substance abuse treatment was allowed to be given to those who are incarcerated.
As quoted in the June 29, 2010 Newsweek article by Mary Carmichael, Dr Rich stated, ”Our system has taken the highest-risk and most ill people and put them in a place where they have constitutionally mandated health care. What a great opportunity to make a difference. Are we just trying to punish people? Or are we trying to rehabilitate people? “ He further asks, “What do we want of this?”
There are several rationalizations as to why prisons can’t or won’t treat their inmates. Methadone, a long tried-and-true pharmacological treatment for heroin addiction, needs to be heavily regulated, and so the cost of treatment rises. The fear that methadone could be stolen or diverted are other reasons why the medication is not dispensed. Buprenorphine, another medication commonly used to treat opioid addiction is also not used in prisons, despite the fact that it cannot be crushed or inhaled.
The World Health Organization lists methadone and buprenorphine as medications that should be readily available to treat prisoners at any given time, but only 50% of states and prisons provide them. Those prisons that do provide them do so on a limited basis.
Source: Newsweek
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