Daily News | Justice Department finds Pa. courts discriminated against people with opioid use disorder
HARRISBURG — Courts in Pennsylvania violated federal law by telling people to stop taking life-saving addiction medications, the Department of Justice recently alleged while warning of possible legal consequences if the policies continue.
The letter marks the first time the Department of Justice has called this kind of ban on opioid use disorder medications a violation of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, according to Rebekah Joab, a staff attorney with the Legal Action Center, which represented a Jefferson County woman in a federal complaint.
After struggling with opioid addiction for more than a decade, Mosey said she had success using buprenorphine. It’s one of three drugs, along with methadone and naltrexone, approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat opioid use disorder. Foradora’s order said people had to be “completely clean of the substance” within 30 days of their sentence date or face having their probation revoked. That created a stark choice: stop using medication or risk going to jail.
And if people do decide to taper off buprenorphine, it’s “generally accomplished over several months,” according to the American Society of Addiction Medicine. Mosey had decided to participate in a treatment program where patients are prescribed Suboxone, a medication containing buprenorphine and the opioid-reversal drug naloxone, because she felt that if she didn’t, she would relapse and end up back in prison. The medication and counseling helped, she said.
“During her month-long stay at that facility, Complainant B suffered withdrawal symptoms including insomnia, aching legs, nausea, and stomach cramps,” the Department of Justice wrote. “Complainant B never succeeded in fully stopping use of her OUD medication.” In Northumberland County, the drug treatment court team continually pressured one participant to quit her medication even though her doctor said she was doing well on buprenorphine and tapering her off could put her at increased risk of relapse, overdose, and death, the Department of Justice found.
The Justice Department also identified six other counties that have, or recently had, problematic policies: Allegheny, Blair, Butler, Clinton, Delaware, and York. Spotlight PA reached out to officials in all six. Some either declined to comment or didn’t respond. Officials in two counties said they were open to making changes but didn’t commit to doing so.
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