Journal Staff Writer

Tuesday, March 7, 2006
Methadone Program Could Help Inmates
By Leann Holt

The new methadone maintenance program at the MetropolitanDetentionCenter may affect Albuquerque residents more than they realize.

The program— one of five in the nation— will provide methadone to former heroin users while they're in jail, decreasing the possibility that they will return to heroin when they get out.

Fewer heroin users means safer communities, said former U.S. drug czar Gen. Barry McCaffrey, who led a news conference at the detention center Monday announcing the program.

"(Methadone) is not a cure, but a way to take a population of roughly 1 million (users) that does incredible damage to the community and reduce that damage significantly," McCaffrey said.

McCaffrey said people who take methadone reduce their heroin use by 70 percent, have 57 percent less criminal activity and are 24 percent more likely to be employed.

The MDC program, which began in November, will cost $2 million(paper corrected to $200,000 next day)and will be funded through the state's Department of Health, said department Secretary Michelle Lujan Grisham on Monday. An estimated 280 inmates will receive methadone this year, she said.

Inmates must have had a dose of the methadone within the previous 14 days to qualify and cannot be going to prison in order to be enrolled in the program.

Valerie Chavez, an inmate at the detention center, told a group assembled for the news conference how devastating it can be to go to jail and abruptly be cut off from methadone treatment.

The 27-year-old heroin addict was on methadone and getting her life together, she said. Methadone kept her from craving heroin, allowing her to move her three daughters from a homeless shelter to permanent housing and begin counseling.

An old arrest warrant caught up with her a few months ago, landing her in jail in Santa Fe. With no methadone available, she had severe withdrawal symptoms. Federal research has shown that methadone withdrawal can be more severe than heroin withdrawal.

When Chavez was released, she immediately went back to heroin because it was easier to get than methadone.

"You suffer when you detox without methadone," said Barry Karlin, chairman of the CRC Health Group, which will run the detention center program.

"They get out (of jail) and get drugs because they feel so horrible."

Imperial said she has been on methadone for 3 ½ years. The 46-year-old said she was back in jail on an old charge and will be released shortly.

"Methadone is the only thing that's kept me from relapsing," she said. "I was glad to come here and find out they were giving it. I'm going to stay on it."

MARCH 7, 2006

Former heroin addicts and BernalilloCountyMetropolitanDetentionCenter inmates, from left, Valerie Chavez, 27, Christine Imperial, 46, and Louis Marquez, 18, talk with reporters and state and county officials Monday during a news conference to announce the state’s first methadone-maintenance program exclusively for inmates.

Photo: Santa FeNew MexicanMarch 7 2006

‘Stopping the revolving door’

Program helps those behind bars cope with heroin addiction

By Julie Ann Grimm

The Santa Fe New Mexican

ALBUQUERQUE — Getting off heroin wasn’t easy for Valerie Chavez, but a prescription drug was helping her kick the habit for six months until she got arrested on old warrants and sent to the Santa FeCounty jail.

Chavez, now a 27-year-old inmate at the Albuquerque city jail, said not having access to methadone in Santa Fe was one of the hardest parts of her recovery from addiction.

Thanks to a program at MetropolitanDetentionCenter, however, inmates like Chavez who arrive at the Albuquerque jail enrolled in a methadone program can continue their treatment uninterrupted.

The state Health Department has been doling out methadone at the jail since November under a program officials say is the first of its kind in the Southwest and only the fifth in the nation. Because opiate addiction alters the brain chemistry, the prescription drug allows a former heroin user to stay away from the illegal drug and a life of crime and regain a productive position in society, said Health Department Secretary Michelle Lujan Grisham.

“We are going to treat people, which is what we are supposed to be doing,” Grisham said at a Monday news conference to discuss the Albuquerque jail’s methadone pilot program. “It’s a legal treatment aimed at solving the problem and stopping the revolving door.”

While the partnership between the Albuquerque corrections department and the state Health Department did not happen naturally — it took about five years to get the program in place — Grisham said she hopes it’s a model for other correctional facilities. The Health Department also is investigating how it can expand the program to enroll new inmates with no prior methadone experience.

Heroin addiction affects many who are jailed in New Mexico, and the Health Department reports that an overwhelming majority of those arrested and serving time have substance-abuse problems that go untreated in the community. Research at Albuquerque’s jail found that 10 percent to 15 percent of inmates tested positive for heroin when they arrived.

Addiction and its side effects also are responsible for many deaths in the state’s jails and prisons. In Santa FeCounty’s jail, two of nine inmates who died behind bars since 2000 died from heroin overdoses. Another woman died in October of a suspected overdose.

Those are reasons why Grisham and some Santa Fe officials want to see a similar program at the Santa FeCounty jail. The Health Department has been meeting with the county to talk about it, but no final decisions have been made, and there’s no funding right now to expand to other jails, Grisham said.

Drugs that are smuggled into the facility are a big challenge for countySheriff Greg Solano, who said he favors a methadone program because it will cut back on contraband and continue treatment for people trying to kick their drug habits.

County Corrections Department Director Gregg Parrish said he’s still weighing the pros and cons. “If it is going to benefit the community, we would want to consider it,” Parrish said. “But there are a lot of mixed feelings about opiate replacement therapy.”

Because heroin is pervasive not only in New Mexico but across the nation, former federal drug-policy director Gen. Barry McCaffrey made a trip to Albuquerque to applaud the program. The country’s longest running drug czar said these initiatives are the most effective way to treat opiate addiction.

McCaffrey now works with a company (CRC Health Group) that runs 90 clinics in the nation that treat some of the estimated 16 million Americans who have chronic substance abuse problems.

He said sometimes the best way for a heroin addict to get help is when he or she is arrested.
“When we’ve got you under our control because you just broke into my house and stole half my electronic equipment, that’s the time to start a mandatory program that may well include methadone,” McCaffrey said. Chavez isn’t on methadone now because a different court ordered detox program she’s in doesn’t allow the medication. But when she gets released in another three weeks, she plans to return to the legal drug to keep her from relapsing to heroin on the streets. “Now I’m afraid to be out there and not on methadone,” she said.

Radio

Methadone Treatment Program Begins in MetropolitanDetentionCenter

Airdate: Tuesday, March 7, 2006

By: Jim Williams

HAS SOUND FROM GEN. MCCAFFREY, DR. KARLIN, SEC. GRISHAM

State health and corrections officials are moving ahead with an initiative to treat drug-addicted prisoners in BernalilloCounty. The new program uses methadone in an effort to move inmates from addiction to contribution.

Click to Listen:

At Noonmidday report March 6

Host: Bill Dupuy

12:16PM: INTERVIEW (as introduced) of “GEN. BARRY MCCAFFREY, retired four-star General and former U.S. Drug Czar, AND DR. BARRY KARLIN, CEO of the country’s largest drug treatment provider, CRC Health Group”

SANTA FE (2006-03-06) -- KSFR's hour-long midday report: We talk with a retired four-star general and former U.S. drug czar, who's in New Mexico about a drug-treatment program for prisoners, about "wars" on drugs and terror -- are they effective?

Click to listen:

Real Player:

MP3:

March 6, 2006

8:35-8:50AM

LIVE Interview of General McCaffrey and Dr. Karlin on The Larry Ahrens Show, hosted by Larry Ahrens.

KKOB 770AM (Albuquerque News-Talk)

LIVE Radio Interview OF Dr. Barry Karlin and Gen. Barry McCaffrey

7:10 -7:15 am Host: Pat Frisch

State & Local Wire
March 7, 2006 Tuesday 10:04 PM GMT

Grisham touts drug to help inmate addicts

ALBUQUERQUE –State Health Secretary Michelle Lujan Grisham is touting a new drug treatment program at the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center as the first of its kind in the Southwest and among only a few nationwide.

For the past three months, jail officials have offered methadone to inmates who are fighting heroin addiction.

According to a 2002 study, between 10 percent and 15 percent of inmates at the jail tested positive for some form of opiate at the time of their arrest. The jail holds about 2,200 people each day.

Before the methadone program began in November, people using the legal drug to suppress their heroin cravings were forced to withdraw from it during jail stays.

Without methadone, a synthetic opiate, the addict's urges can return. So when the addict is released from jail, staying clean is more difficult, Grisham said Monday.

With the jail's methadone program, funded at $200,000 by the state Department of Health, inmates who already use methadone can continue treatment and emerge from incarceration better equipped to stay clean, Grisham said.

"There are other drug addictions that need treatment, too, but this one we have a cheap, effective treatment for," said Bruce Trigg, public health physician with the state Department of Health.

Retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey, who directed the nation's drug control policy from 1996-2001, said treating drug addiction is essential to stopping cycles of drug use and crime that account for "things you don't like about America."

By the end of this year, officials hope to treat 280 people, Grisham said. The area's methadone clinic has about 800 clients.

March 7, 2006

Jail touts drug to help its inmate addicts

By Maggie Shepard
Tribune Reporter

For three months, the BernalilloCountyMetropolitanDetentionCenter has been offering methadone to inmates fighting heroin addiction.

The program is the first of its kind in a jail or prison in the Southwest and one of only a handful around the nation, said state Secretary of Health Michelle Lujan Grisham at a news conference Monday.

According to a jail study in 2002, between 10 percent and 15 percent of inmates at the jail tested positive for some form of opiate at the time of arrest. The jail holds about 2,200 people each day.

Before the methadone program opened in November, people using the legal drug to suppress their heroin cravings were forced to withdraw from it during their stay at the jail.

Without methadone, a synthetic opiate, the addict's urges can return. So when the addict is released from jail, staying clean is more difficult, Grisham said.

With the jail's methadone program, funded at $200,000 by the Department of Health, those inmates already using methadone can continue their treatment and emerge from their incarceration better equipped to stay clean, Grisham said.

"There are other drug addictions that need treatment, too, but this one (opiate addiction) we have a cheap, effective treatment for," said Bruce Trigg, public health physician with the state Department of Health.

Also at the news conference was retired drug czar Gen. Barry McCaffrey. McCaffrey directed the nation's drug control policy from 1996-2001.

He said treating drug addiction is essential to stopping the cycle of drug use and crime that accounts for "things you don't like about America."

By the end of this year, the program aims to treat 280 people, Grisham said. The area's methadone clinic has about 800 clients.

KOB-TV NBC 4

March 6, 2006

NOON AND 5PM NEWS:

In-studio Interview ran twice of General Barry McCaffrey and Dr. Barry Karlin (tape en route in mail)

New drug to help addicts
Date: March 7, 2006

Source: AP

ALBUQUERQUE --There's a new drug treatment program at the BernalilloCounty jail, the first of its kind in the Southwest.

For the past three months, officials at the Albuquerque jail have offered methadone to inmates who are fighting heroin addiction.

According to a 2002 study, between ten percent and 15 percent of inmates at the jail tested positive for some form of opiate at the time of their arrest.

Before the methadone program began in November, people using the legal drug to suppress heroin cravings were forced to withdraw from it during jail stays.

KASA Fox 2, March 6, 2006, Covered press conference

KOAT ABC 7, March 6, 2006, Covered press conference

Channel 27 QUQ Albuquerque Community TV

Covered News Conference; taped Interviews at JailBookingCenter of General Barry McCaffrey, Dr. Barry Karlin, and Secretary Grisham; and traveled to CRC Clinic preliminary grand opening for additional coverage.

Editing of footage for show underway, in depth piece to run in four weeks when weekly community affairs focus show resumes.

RADIO

Methadone Treatment Program Begins in MetropolitanDetentionCenter

Airdate: Tuesday, March 7, 2006

By: Jim Williams

INCLUDES SOUND FROM GEN. MCCAFFREY, DR. KARLIN, SEC. GRISHAM

Click to Listen:

At Noonmidday report March 6

Host: Bill Dupuy

12:16PM: INTERVIEW OF GEN. BARRY MCCAFFREY AND DR. BARRY KARLIN

Click to listen:

Real Player:

MP3:

March 6, 2006

8:35-8:50AM

LIVE Interview of General McCaffrey and Dr. Karlin on The Larry Ahrens Show, hosted by Larry Ahrens.

Wednesday, March 8, 2006

EDITORIAL:

Methadone Can Break Heroin Addicts' Cycle

A hard-line drug warrior's endorsement of providing methadone to heroin users may overcome skepticism that one addiction doesn't really cure another.
Federal drug czar Gen. Barry McCaffrey, in town to announce a program for addicts at the jail, said methadone may not be a cure for heroin. But it is "a way to take a population of roughly 1 million (users nationwide) that does incredible damage to the community and reduce that damage significantly."
The state is overseeing a new methadone maintenance program at the MetropolitanDetentionCenter for 280 inmates. Under the program, one of five at U.S. lockups, heroin withdrawal will be buffered by methadone, from which users will gradually be weaned.
While some addicts have found ways to abuse methadone, McCaffrey and N.M. Health Secretary Michelle Lujan Grisham said benefits outweigh abuses. Methadone users reduce their heroin intake by 70 percent, have 57 percent less criminal activity and are 24 percent more likely to be employed.
Society has long viewed methadone as the lesser of two addiction evils. But a methadone maintenance program designed to reduce heroin use and curb crime associated with it is more good than evil.

Feature: Pilot Methadone Maintenance Program for Jail Inmates Off to Good Start, New Mexico Officials Say 3/10/06

For the past three months, a select group of inmates in the BernalilloCounty's MetropolitanDetentionCenter in Albuquerque have been receiving maintenance doses of methadone as a treatment for heroin addiction, New Mexico officials announced at a Tuesday press conference. Some 50 inmates have participated in the program since it began in late November. The program is part of the Department of Health's comprehensive public health office inside the jail, where staff provides immunizations, STD testing and treatment, educational programs and other public health interventions.

Bernalillo CountyJail

New Mexico has historically suffered from high levels of heroin use. At least 103 people died from heroin overdoses last year alone, according to the Department of Health, and at the jail, 10% to 15% of incoming inmates test positive for heroin, one of the highest rates in the nation.

Although controversial in some sectors, giving maintenance doses of methadone to heroin addicts is a scientifically proven and accepted means of treating heroin addiction. Hundreds of studies of methadone maintenance therapy have been conducted by researchers around the world, and they show that it leads to decreases in heroin injection, overdoses, infection rates for HIV, hepatitis B and C and sexually transmitted diseases, criminal activity, and the use of other non-opiate drugs, while allowing clients to improve their chances of securing and keeping employment and maintaining normal lives.

Despite methadone's proven efficacy, its use among prison or jail populations is almost unknown in the United States. The number of correctional institutions that allow methadone maintenance therapy in the US is in the single digits, with most concentrated in the Northeast. The Bernalillo County Jail program is the only one in the Southwest.