Resources for Lawyers and Policy Makers
A resource for lawyers, politicians, legislatures and more. This includes relevant legislation and cases, policy and position statements and state guidelines.
Briefs and Memos
Briefs and Memos
Johns Hopkins School of Public Health American Health Initiative
This memo explores the legality of denying access to MOUD among individuals incarcerated.
Pew Research Center
Opioid Use Disorder Treatment in Jails and Prisons
This brief examines what policymakers should consider when exploring how to best manage OUD in incarcerated populations. It explores case studies from Pennsylvania, Vermont, Denver, Mas etc. These case studies provide a historical background and current data and findings.
How States and Counties Can Help Individuals With Opioid Use Disorder Re-Enter Communities
This brief contains background on why reentry programs are so important, the role of health insurance and discharge planning.
The O’Neil Institute at Georgetown University
Access to Medication for Opioid Use Disorder in Prisons and Jails
This brief explores evidence-based strategies to address substance use disorder. It highlights the key principals to advancing treatment in correctional settings.
Access to Medication for Opioid Use Disorder in Treatment Courts
This brief explores the key principals drug treatment courts should adopt to advance access to MOUD.
Reimagining the Systems Serving Families
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
This brief provides guidance to state governments on increasing the availability of evidence-based medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) in criminal justice (CJ) settings. By including the criminal justice system as a path to treatment, states may see an increase in access to and retention in treatment, and lower rates of overdoses, re-offending, and re-incarcerations. In this brief, states are provided an overview of the issue, the challenges to incorporating MOUD, key considerations for establishing MOUD in CJ settings, and existing standards/guidelines.
The World Health Organization
Guidelines for the Psychosocially Assisted Pharmacological Treatment of Opioid Dependence
WHO recommends that MOUD should be accessible and available to everyone, including people who are incarcerated. “Opioid withdrawal, agonist maintenance and naltrexone treatment should all be available in prison settings, and prisoners should not be forced to accept any particular treatment” (12).
WHO recommends that people in prison should be able to start treatment inside, if they are serving a short sentence. They also emphasize the need to smooth over services inside with providers outside.
WHO Guide to Essentials in Prisoner Health
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- Chapter 9: Drug use and drug services in prisons – Heino Stöver and Caren Weilandt (85)
- Chapter 10: Substitution treatment in prisons – Andrej Kastelic 113
Position Statement
Position Statements
National Commission on Correctional Healthcare
Position Statement on Substance Use Disorder for Adults and Adolescents
This position statement is intended to ensure that people with substance use disorders get adequate healthcare that meet the national medical standards. It builds off of the NCCHS’s Standards for Health Services and has a medical focus.
American Society of Addiction Medicine
Public Policy Statement on Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder in Correctional Settings
Individuals who are incarcerated are a vulnerable population and withholding evidence-based opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment increases risk for death during detainment and upon release. ASAM recognizes that correctional settings are diverse and that not all resources are universally available. This policy statement describes the standard of care that ASAM believes all detained and incarcerated individuals with OUD should receive. ASAM also advocates for systemic changes to ensure universal access to such care within correctional institutions.
American Society of Addiction Medicine and American Correctional Association
This policy statement from the ACA and ASAM developed recommendations for correctional systems and programs to provide evidence-based care to individuals with opioid use disorders. “ASAM advocates for increased access to addiction treatment medications and psychosocial support services in America’s correctional system as well as appropriate screening, prevention, and reentry services to help identify individuals with addiction involving opioids or other substances and ensure that they have the tools to sustain treatment, remission and recovery when they return to their community after release.”
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) in the Criminal Justice System: Brief Guidance to the States
This brief provides guidance to state governments on increasing the availability of evidence-based medication-assisted treatment (MAT) in criminal justice (CJ) settings. By including the criminal justice system as a path to treatment, states may see an increase in access to and retention in treatment, and lower rates of overdoses, re-offending, and re-incarcerations. In the brief, states are provided an overview of the issue, the challenges to incorporating MAT, key considerations for establishing MAT in CJ settings, and existing standards/guidelines.
American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry (AAAP)
Criminal Justice System and Substance Use Disorder Treatment Policy
This policy statement from the AAAP advocates for increased access to quality treatment for mental illness and substance use disorder in the criminal justice setting, including MOUD.
Relevant Legislation
Relevant Legislation
H.R.3496 – Community Re-Entry through Addiction Treatment to Enhance Opportunities Act
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/3496/text
H.R.4141 – Humane Correctional Health Care Act
H.R. 1329 – The Medicaid Reentry Act
Legal Centers and Information Hubs
Legal Action Center
- Cases Involving Discrimination Based on Treatment with Medication for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD)
- MOUD in Corrections – Recent Legal Developments and Implications
- Medication Assisted Treatment in Drug Courts: Recommended Strategies
- Attorney Guide: Medication and Your Client
- Defense Lawyers and the Opioid Epidemic: Advocating for Addiction Medication
- Sample Letters to Court or Probation Advocating for Individuals to Stay on Medication-Assisted Treatment
O’Neil Institute
- Advancing the Evidence
- Advancing the Evidence project is focused on ensuring access to evidence-based treatment in jails, prisons, courts and child welfare settings as an immediate and targeted measure that will save lives. The project includes original research that examines policy and legislative approaches to implanting MOUD in corrections. A few of their key resources are listed here:
- Big Idea: Correctional Institutions as an Intervention Point for Opioid Use Disorder Treatment
- This issues brief highlights the takeaways from a virtual round table series hosted by the Addiction and Public Policy initiative centered on best practices, challenges and opportunities in implementing medication-based treatment in correctional settings.
- Tracking State Legislation and Relevant Federal Legislation
- This interactive map tracks state legislation to provide access to medication for opioid use disorder in correctional settings.
- Applying the Evidence: Legal and Policy Approaches to Address Opioid Use Disorder in the Criminal Justice and Child Welfare Settings.
- The report provides policymakers with recommendations to improve access to treatment using medications for opioid use disorder in the criminal justice and child welfare systems.
- Big Idea: Correctional Institutions as an Intervention Point for Opioid Use Disorder Treatment
- Advancing the Evidence project is focused on ensuring access to evidence-based treatment in jails, prisons, courts and child welfare settings as an immediate and targeted measure that will save lives. The project includes original research that examines policy and legislative approaches to implanting MOUD in corrections. A few of their key resources are listed here:
National Drug Court Institute
The National Reentry Resource Center
- Critical Connections
- A discussion paper that identifies key questions state and local leaders should ask as part of their efforts to help people leaving prison and jail with mental health needs get community-based treatment.
Legislative Analysis and Public Policy Association (LAPPA)
- Model Access to Medication for Addiction Treatment in Correctional Settings Act
- Summary of State Naloxone Laws
- Good Samaritan Fatal Overdose Prevention and Drug-induced Homicide: Summary of State Laws
Prescription Drug Abuse Policy Program
Suggest an additional resource
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Contact Information
The Center for Health and Justice Transformation
The Miriam Hospital
1125 North Main St.
Providence, Rhode Island
02906
Ekaplowitz@lifespan.org
401-793-2244