Methadone program starts at drug court
Denver Drug Court is giving offenders another chance at sobriety.
A new multi-agency program announced Thursday will begin administering methadone to drug offenders who volunteer to get treated and can prove they’re addicted to heroin or prescription painkillers. It is aimed at combating the city’s opioid epidemic, which reflects a national trend.
Previously, the sheriff’s department would administer methadone to offenders if they already had been prescribed the medication. Now, the Medication Assisted Treatment Induction Program provides probationers in Denver’s drug court system with the option to begin methadone treatment in jail. In addition, their sentence will be reduced.
“We identify them on Wednesdays,” said Scott Prendergast, a Denver probation supervisor. Participants in the program are sent to the Correctional Care Medical Facility, a secure inpatient clinic inside Denver Health Medical Center on Bannock Street, where they receive a methadone dose. They are returned to the Van Cise-Simonet Detention Center for the weekend and receive two other doses.
The program is the culmination of two years of planning and collaboration between the courts, sheriff ’s department, parole and two community hospitals. The agencies felt “if we all did a little piece, we could have a tremendous impact instead of each of us working in our own little silo to fight this problem,” Prendergast said.
After the weekend, offenders are released and a volunteer meets them at the facility to escort them to the office of Addiction Research and Treatment Services for more methadone therapy. The Denver Sheriff Department pays for the taxi, said Simon Crittle, a department spokesman.
What the program “does is recognize getting someone to start on methadone in the community is not easy,” Crittle said. Jails provide a much more controlled environment with less of an opportunity to relapse. Currently, the drug court will refer a maximum of two offenders a week to the program. Over time, the agencies will begin to take on more cases, Crittle explained.
Denver, like much of the U.S., is experiencing a spike in heroin use. The city’s police and the sheriff ’s departments have reported an increase in heroin-related crimes, particularly along the Cherry Creek bike-way and the 16th Street Mall. In response, officers and EMTs started carrying Narcan, an antidote to opioid overdoses. Police began patrolling areas of Denver that are popular with drug users, banning some from returning to city parks.
In its first weeks, the Medication Assisted Treatment program will be evaluated for its impact in reduction of jail bed days, referrals and patient compliance with probation. In addition to providing addiction treatment services, it’s designed to function as a preventive measure for the burden that heavy drug users put on city resources and their families, Prendergast explained.
“We’re saving jail bed days on the front end, but we’re also hoping we reduce jail bed days in the future,” he added.