Inmates struggling with addiction will have the opportunity to begin a drug-treatment program to help curb cravings prior to release from the Lake County Jail under a new program being offered through the jail and the Lake County Health Department.
The program will give qualifying inmates the opportunity to begin treatment with Vivitrol, a nonaddictive drug that helps reduce cravings for alcohol and opioids, according to Health Department officials.
Vivitrol is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of both alcoholism and opioid addiction. It works by blocking opioid receptors in the brain, reducing the pleasurable effects of alcohol and opioid drugs, officials said.
“It’s another tool in our toolbox,” said Undersheriff Ray Rose, who has taken a lead role in helping create specialty programs for those with drug and mental health programs in an effort to reduce recidivism and provide prison diversion options.
Rose said the willingness of Lake County officials to work together to create programs such as Drug Court and Mental Health Court, along with training officers in crisis intervention, is increasing the odds of keeping people out of prison and reducing repeat offenders.
The Vivitrol pilot program is part of the Health Department’s newly expanded medication-assisted treatment program, which recently received a grant of $325,000 from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration.
Rose said the results of the program will be carefully monitored to provide data as to whether it will be effective in the long run.
“We began researching Vivitrol as a treatment option for opioid- or alcohol-addicted inmates last summer, using Winnebago County as one of several models,” Rose said. “We were impressed with their program’s success in combining Vivitrol with intensive addiction treatment.”
The new local program will also allow and require participating inmates to take advantage of professional addiction treatment along with the use of Vivitrol.
“Recent changes in Illinois law offer coverage for Vivitrol treatment, and a partnership with the Lake County Health Department to deliver medication-assisted treatment makes sure inmates who want to break the cycle of addiction are provided the resources to do so,” Rose said.
By the end of August, inmates who are opioid- or alcohol-addicted will have the new treatment option available to them, officials said.
Those who voluntarily express an interest in the Vivitrol program will undergo an assessment and education process to determine if they are appropriate for the program, according to the Health Department. Those eligible will begin receiving addiction treatment services through the Health Department both in the jail and after they are released.
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Armor Correctional Health Services, the medical provider for the jail, will administer an injection of Vivitrol prior to the participating inmate’s release. The Health Department has committed to treating 15 inmates over the next six months.
“Former inmates are at high risk for death from drug overdose, especially in the immediate post-release period,” Mark Pfister, the Health Department’s interim executive director, said in a news release this week. “Research has identified that there is higher risk for overdose immediately following release which can be attributed to a change in drug tolerance while incarcerated.
“Once released, these individuals may not realize that their tolerance has diminished and can accidentally overdose.”
Pfister said he agreed with Rose that “collaborations with community partners are helping us address the growing problem of opioid addiction in Lake County. This partnership with the jail enables us to begin to treat people while they are still in jail and continue to treat them once they are back in the community. We believe this approach will help them stay on course with their recovery and reduce their likeliness of going back to jail.”
The population of residents in need of substance-abuse services has substantially increased in Lake County for decades. In 1998, the county had 30 deaths that were attributed to substance abuse. By 2010, that number had more than tripled to 92. Opioid-related deaths in 2008 were 47 and increased in 2015 to 58, according to the Health Department.
The Lake County Health Department/Community Health Center has for decades been the primary provider of substance-abuse services for residents in the county. Its services include screening, brief intervention and referral to treatment (SBIRT); in-patient detox and rehabilitation services; outpatient substance-abuse counseling; medication-assisted treatment; and women’s residential services.
The department established an Outpatient Substance Abuse Program in the 1970s to address a growing population of residents with substance-abuse concerns. The program, at 3004 Grand Avenue in Waukegan, provides both drug-free treatment as well as medication-assisted treatment using methadone and Suboxone to treat opioid addiction.
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