Methadone Maintenance Treatment Essay

The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a federally funded, executive agency consisting of 39,683 employees and housing 193,070 inmates via 122 different institutional locations currently maintaining a thirty-four percent rate of recidivism (Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2016, About tab). The Bureau is headquartered in Washington, D.C. and performs duties of care and custody, rehabilitation program and services, and provides services for the prevention of future crimes. The Bureau is also responsible for carrying out all legally mandated federal executions, with Terre Haute, Indiana being home for the lethal injection center. Facilities are broken down into different classifications based on security concerns, and house inmates accordingly by

However, the imposition of punitive penalties fails to adequately respond to drug-related crime. This is because punitive measures fail to address the complex nature and causes underlying the commission of drug-related offences. It has been found that after release from prison, without accessible, integrated and consistent drug treatment and support such as access to housing and employment, people with substance use issues are at higher risk of re-offending and returning to prison, or dying from a drug overdose.

Drug courts, initially propelled in Florida in 1989, are an arrangement of escalated treatment and supervision. The thought is to treat the instances of peaceful substance-mishandling guilty parties uniquely in contrast to other criminal cases in light of the fact that the dependence is at the base of the criminal action. Accentuation is on recovery instead of discipline.

The government and administrators of prisons and treatment centers are trying to lower the cost of incarceration and treatment centers. Treatment centers are the more expensive option but it last longer and has more permanent effects in low level drug criminals. The family and individual want the easiest option that helps them or their children to treat their addiction. They want to use treatment centers to treat the addiction to prevent them crime again.

The current system that incarcerates people over and over is unsustainable and does not lower the crime rate nor encourage prisoner reformation. When non-violent, first time offenders are incarcerated alongside violent repeat offenders, their chance of recidivating can be drastically altered by their experience in prison. Alternative sentencing for non-violent drug offenders could alleviate this problem, but many current laws hinder many possible solutions. Recently lawmakers have made attempts to lower the recidivism rates in America, for example the Second Chance Act helps aid prisoners returning into society after incarceration. The act allows states to appropriate money to communities to help provide services such as education, drug treatment programs, mental health programs, job corps services, and others to aid in offenders returning to society after incarceration (Conyers, 2013). The Drug Treatment Alternative-to-Prison Program is another attempt to provide better treatment for people who are convicted. The study showed that drug offenders who underwent a treatment program outside of prison had a 26 percent less rate of re-arrest after two years than a control group that was sent to prison (Justice Policy Institute, 2010). Rehabilitative programs like the Second Chance Act and the Drug Treatment Alternative-to-Prison Program has shown to growth and positive

The idea behind these program was to help treat the offenders for their substance abuse disorders while still holding them accountable for the crime that they had committed (Lutze & Wormer, 2013). Many studies have been conducted in order to assess the effectiveness of drug court programs across the country. In a qualitative study done by Gallagher 100 participants of the drug court program were examined. This study found that of the drug court participants, seventy-nine percent were not rearrested in the follow-up period. Twenty-one percent of those participants were rearrested (Gallagher, 2014). Similarly, Brown found that in a matched cohort study comparing traditional prison sentencing to drug court programs it was shown that there was significantly less recidivism in the drug court participants than in the offenders that were sentenced to jail or prison time. In this study 137 drug court participants were matched with offenders that had been sentenced traditionally. It was shown that the recidivism rate for drug court participants was only thirty percent, whereas the traditionally sentenced participants had a forty-seven percent recidivism rate. Brown also examined the time between program completion and participants committing a new crime. In the drug court participants, the mean time was 614 days, and in the traditionally sentenced participants the average time was 463 days (Brown,

The Methadone Maintenance Treatment (Camh) helps patients overcome an addiction of opioid dependence. The treatment uses methadone as a replacement for the opioid. Methadone is a narcotic drug that helps suppress opioid withdrawal symptoms, reduce cravings for opioids, not induce intoxication (e.g., sedation or euphoria) and reduce the euphoric effects of other opioids, such as heroin (Camh). MMT is beneficial to the patient in many reasons. Methadone helps suppress opioid withdrawal symptoms because patients in this treatment program are given only one a day. According to the Camh, methadone lasts for about 24 to 36 hours, while heroin lasts for three to six hours, which are easier to overdose. Another benefit

mends the Controlled Substances Act to increase the number of patients that a qualifying practitioner dispensing narcotic drugs for maintenance or detoxification treatment is initially allowed to treat from 30 to 100 patients per year.

This is for inmates that are addicted to heroin this works in conjunction with inmates being in community programs for substance abuse. This is not a program that all prisons have or are even fast to pick up on. This program is for inmates who are in their prerelease phase. In a clinical study it was shown that prisons who participated in methadone maintenance treatment programs were very successful over all in treating prisoners who use heroin (Kinlock, Gordon, Schwartz, & Fitzgerald, 2010). An alternative to treating prisoners in jail after they have no choice or after something horrible was done is treating them before they make it to the point where prison is needed this is called drug court. (Wormer, Persson, 2010). This program would save the communities a lot of money and help out the families of the person who is in trouble. Not all people who commit drug related crimes would qualify but people who would be facing long prison time. This would be for first time offenders who have not committed violent crimes. They would get treatments such as cognitive behavior therapy, drug treatments and be under the very intense supervision of the drug court. There are out patient and in patient programs that are controlled by the offender with how much they are involved or not as reported to the drug court (Wormer, Persson,

Both internal and external conflict can take an emotional toll on a patient who is dealing with the psychological and physiological effects of addiction. Also, these patients lose their able to function normally, and some healthcare personnel perceive their behaviors as deliberately preformed causing an excessive amount of stigma. Addiction leaves patients having to manage the pain and suffering of not being in control of their own bodies without much guidance of healthcare personnel. However, patients would not have to persevere through addition consequences of addiction if professionals – especially pharmacists – had enhanced education of addiction which would possibly alleviate

Addictions to opiates, and opiate derivatives, are some of the most prevalent and long-standing drug abuse issues known. These abuses have also contributed to other social problems such as the spread of HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C due to needle injection being a popular method of delivery. In the 1960s, methadone, a synthetic opiate substitute, was introduced as the preferred medical treatment for opiate abuse and addiction and remains so today. Reduction of disease distribution is only one of its heralded benefits. Methadone is commonly used in management of withdrawal symptoms related to addiction to heroin and other opiate drugs, both prescription and non-prescription. According to Plater-Zyberk, Varenburt, Daiter, and Worster (2012), as well as nearly all other researchers, methadone is a safe, effective, and beneficial treatment when taken in a supervised methadone maintenance treatment (MMT). However, there are growing issues with illicit

Is the policy of giving methadone to drug addicts a good one? There are many conflicting opinions about this topic. Methadone Maintenance Treatment is a very controversial topic that arises many different attitudes toward the program. Some people believe that Methadone maintenance treatment is a good thing and that it does truly help addicts get over their addictions. Others are against Methadone Maintenance treatment because they believe it is an unnecessary and a waste of money. I personally am against the use of methadone because it does not stop addicts from continuing to do drugs while going through methadone treatment and it lacks the evidence of it actually working. Firstly, I am going to explain what methadone treatment is. Secondly,

Those who graduated are then often compared to those clients who were terminated from the program. In addition, research as not examined if a client’s length in time in program affects that client even if he or she is unsuccessful in the program. In other words, there is not enough data to indicate the extent of specialty court’s impact on unsuccessful clients. In the medical profession, researchers need to track all patients who use a particular medicine even if the medicine did not work. This is necessary to identify the long-term lasting effects of medicine. Similarly, specialty court recidivism research needs to do the same. This prompted the authors to measure specialty court’s influence on clients who did not complete the program. This data is and should be required to determine specialty court’s efficacy. This approach to measure unsuccessful clients is essential and should not be discarded. The authors measured other factors besides recidivism, time to recidivism, and drug use. The authors also looked at unsuccessful clients’ abstinence from drugs, quality of life factors, employment, education, interpersonal relationships, and babies born drug free.

Chandler, Redonna K., et al. “Treating Drug Abuse and Addiction in the Criminal Justice System: Improving Public Health and Safety.” JAMA : the Journal of the American Medical Association, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 14 Jan. 2009, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2681083/.

When a person takes a drug the chemicals affect the brain by interfering with how the neurons send messages. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the structure of Marijuana and Heroin mimic a natural neurotransmitter which tricks the receptors into allowing the drug to activate neurons inside the brain which interferes with messages and leads to abnormalities of behavior. With other drugs such as cocaine there is an abnormally large amount of neurotransmitters released which disrupts communication channels. Drug abuse can rewire brain connections, decrease synapse activity and cause addiction. The American Psychiatric Association says that addiction is a complex condition, and a brain disease that is manifested by compulsive substance use despite harmful consequence. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) found that 21.5 million American adults (aged 12 and older) battled a substance use disorder in 2014. Addiction to drugs has been a growing issue in America, and is causing jails to become overcrowded. The Bureau of Justice Statistics found that more than half of federal prisoners were incarcerated for drug crimes in 2010. This leads to the question of whether the justice system is doing an adequate job of dealing with drug addiction. Instead of incarcerating people for drug abuse, an alternative is treating victims by rehab and treatment. This paper will exam why treatment is the superior option for