Medication-Assisted Therapy for Opioid-Dependent Incarcerated Populations in New Mexico: Statewide Efforts to Increase Access

ABSTRACT

An acute awareness of the profound social and medical costs associated with heroin and opiate addiction in New Mexico has led a group of advocates from public health, state and local governments, corrections, academia, and community activists to collaborate for the purpose of increasing access to medication-assisted therapy (MAT) with buprenorphine and methadone in New Mexico. This paper describes these collaborations, with a focus on the evolution of harm reduction approaches to substance abuse disorders and successful efforts to make MAT available to incarcerated persons.

KEYWORDS:

• Opiate addiction
• medication assisted theraphy
• buprenorphine
• methadone
• corrections

Acknowledgments

The authors thank specially the many colleagues who have worked to make humane and effective treatment available in corrections in New Mexico: John Dantis, Matt Elwell, Chief Ron Torres, Ann Casey, William Shannon, MD, John Robertson, MD, Ray Stewart, Jen Holzworth, PA, Heidi Rogers, NP, Mary Murphy, Nicole Lippert, Ashley Tsang, Naomi Kistin, MD, Margy Wienbar, Laura Brown, MD, Melissa Heinz, Miriam Komaromy, MD, Sanjeev Arora, MD, Bonnie Kraybill, RN, Olin Dodson, Sandra Lapham, MD, Jeanne Block, RN, Pam Brown, RN, Julie Roberts, Reena Szczepanski, Bernie Lieving, MSW, Pam Martin, Susan Bosarge, Barbara McGuire, MD, Keith Barton, MD, Steven Rosenberg, Mitchell Simson, MD, Alex Wodak, MD, Holly Catania, JD, Norty Kalishman, MD, Cynthia Randolph, RN, Sandra Penn, MD, Meg Davidson, MD, and others unnamed.