Prisoners forced to withdraw from methadone less likely to seek community treatment: Lancet study

The randomised controlled trial of 283 US inmates in prison for six months or less found that prisoners receiving methadone on release were seven times more likely than those not on methadone to seek community based treatment in the first month following release from prison. Conversely those prisoners forced to withdraw from methadone were likely to delay receiving community treatment on release or cease treatment altogether. The forced withdrawal group were also more likely to return to injecting drug use following release and more likely to participate in behaviours putting them at risk of HIV and hepatitis.

The study also found that medical costs, such as hospital ED presentations, for prisoners who stayed on methadone were lower in the month after release even after accounting for cost of methadone.

Dr Larney who worked on the study with lead author Professor Josiah Rich as an NMHRC postdoctoral research fellow at Brown University Rhode Island said the results provided further support for the Australian policy of offering methadone treatment in prisons which is available in all states and territories apart from Queensland.

Read full story here