People released from jail face extreme overdose risk because their opioid tolerance drops during incarceration. UCLA research found that giving medication for opioid addiction in jail reduces overdose deaths by 80% in the first month after release and cuts re-arrests.
This is a pretty important topic. We know from research that there is a very high risk of opioid overdose deaths when people relapse after release from a correctional facility. The reason for that is because if they return to opioid use after a long period of abstinence, they may inadvertently take a larger quantity of opioid than their body's accustomed to.
And without tolerance to opioids to the extent that they had physical tolerance before they entered the correctional facility, their respiratory system can shut down. And that's really the underlying physiological response to an overdose. And quite remarkably, nearly 10% of all deaths from illicit of opioids occurs among individuals who were released from a correctional facility, jail, or prison in the past month. My colleagues at UCLA have done a lot of work to reduce mortality rates among criminal justice populations, and they've found that providing medications for opioid use disorders in correctional settings results in significant benefits. Starting or continuing medications for opioid use disorder while incarcerated decreases morbidity, after release. It decreases future arrests or incarceration. It also increases the likelihood that individuals will engage in treatment and be retained in treatment upon their release. It reduces post-release mortality.
One study found that getting treatment with medications for opioid use disorders while in jail was associated with an 80% reduction in overdose deaths during the first month following reentry into the community.
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Recovery is possible.
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