By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
For some opiate addicts, the most dangerous time is right after being released from jail or a treatment facility. They fall in with old friends, then old bad habits.
The risks are even greater at that point, since their bodies are no long accustomed to the opiate amounts they used before. When that tolerance for the drug is gone, deadly overdoses are more likely to occur.
So Wood County officials are looking at offering inmates injections of one drug, in order to help them beat the addiction of another drug – opiates, with heroin being the most notorious of the drug group.
“Heroin is a different beast than we’ve dealt with before,” said Cary Williams, executive director of the Northwest Community Corrections Center located in Bowling Green.
To give inmates a better chance at kicking opiates, they will be offered one dose of Vivitrol, an injectable drug that acts as an “opiate antagonist. It limits the body’s ability to get high,” explained Charlie Hughes, program director of the corrections center.
By reducing the cravings and the pleasurable effects of the opiates, Vivitrol gives addicts a better chance of kicking the drugs. “So life without drugs seems possible,” Hughes said.
Williams, Hughes and Joni Bretz, of Wood County Adult Probation Department, presented a program on Vivitrol to the Wood County Commissioners on Thursday, and asked for the board’s support of offering the drug at the community corrections center.
The commissioners supported the efforts and agreed to spending up to $25,000 for one year, which would cover at least 19 inmates from Wood County who qualify for the Vivitrol. Of the 54 Wood County residents in the corrections center, 35 percent have opiate issues.
Just this week, Vivitrol also began being used at Wood County Justice Center, for Wood County residents with opiate addictions. “We are definitely on board with doing that,” Wood County Sheriff Mark Wasylyshyn said.
The average opiate addict trying to get clean has seven relapses before being successful, according to Tom Clemons, executive director of the Wood County Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board.
“It’s normal for people to relapse,” Clemons said. And relapse after being clean in jail or treatment is particularly dangerous. According to WCADAMHS stats, someone dies from an opiate-related overdose every 15 minutes.
“How can we keep people from dying when they’re coming out of jail,” Clemons said. “The Vivitrol gives them the kickstart.”
The Vivitrol will be offered on a voluntary basis, and to only those who pass the physical tests to qualify. The shot will be given before the inmates leave the facility, and will last about four weeks. Each inmate involved must agree to counseling, checking in with probation, and applying with Medicaid which will pay for the additional monthly shots.
“If not in compliance, they answer to the judge,” Bretz said. “We want them successful and we want them sober.”
Bretz said opiate overdoses had claimed the lives of multiple people on adult probation’s rolls. “My officers are very depressed because we’ve lost some people,” she said.
Williams said the Vivitrol could benefit an estimated 19 inmates from Wood County in the correctional center each year.
“As most things, it comes down to a funding issue,” he said.
Wood County Commissioner Doris Herringshaw said she liked the strings attached to the assistance. “I’m comfortable knowing there’s followup and tracking,” she said.
And Commissioner Joel Kuhlman suggested that Williams approach the other three counties using the community corrections center to see if they could offer the same program for inmates from their counties.
“It’s setting an example for others to follow,” Williams agreed.
Kuhlman also asked that the corrections center keep statistics to determine the effectiveness of the program.
The county jail expects to offer the Vivitrol to 20 to 30 inmates a year.
“If it will help with the addiction problems, it will definitely be a good thing,” Jail Administrator Rhonda Gibson said. “For us, it’s too soon to tell.”
While the commissioners agreed to pick up the Vivitrol cost for the community corrections center, the funding for the county jail’s program is through a combination of mental health, law enforcement and court services, Clemons said. Some of the funds are drunk driver fees, he added.
According to Bretz, legislation has been introduced in Ohio which would require the state to pay for the first dose of Vivitrol for inmates, and local Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services boards to pick up the costs after they are released.
But even with the Vivitrol, kicking the opiate habit is very difficult, Clemons said.
“The longer people can stay clean, the odds go up,” for success, he said. Studies show that it takes seven years for a long-time user’s brain functions to return to their normal state.
“It’s easy for people to become addicted, but it’s extremely complicated for them to get clean,” Clemons said.
In another effort to respond to the opiate crisis, Wasylyshyn said county deputies will soon start carrying Narcan, which can revive people who are overdosing on opiates.
