Drug Court And Mat Treatment

Many national and international professional bodies consider medication assisted treatment mat with methadone buprenorphine or extended release injectable naltrexone an evidence based best practice for treating opioid dependence.

Drug court and mat treatment. The goals recognized within traditional dependency court timeliness safety permanency the general well being of children etc are included in family dependency drug court but principles found in adult drug court i e. It reviews effective medications including methadone buprenorphine and naltrexone. Early identification substance use disorder treatment a nonadversarial approach services for co occurring concerns frequent drug and alcohol testing medication assisted treatment mat and incentives and sanctions are also incorporated and combined with evidence. The national drug court institute ndci with funding from the office of national drug control policy executive office of the white house in collaboration with american academy of addiction psychiatry aaap developed an online training curriculum designed to educate treatment court professionals on medication assisted treatments mat for substance use disorders with a major focus on opioid use disorders.

The guide also provides strategies to increase the use of mat in drug court programs. However many drug courts do not recommend or even allow the use of mat for opioid dependence. Family treatment drug courts. It reviews effective medications and provides strategies to increase the use of mat in drug court programs.

The three medications approved by the fda for the treatment of opioid use disorder are methadone buprenorphine and naltrexone. Medication assisted treatment mat is an evidence based treatment for opioid use disorder that uses fda approved pharmacotherapy in combination with counseling and behavioral therapies to treat substance use disorders. Medication assisted treatment mat has permeated only half of drug courts operating around the country. Adult drug courts and medication assisted treatment mat for opioid dependence this guide highlights the use of mat for opioid dependence in drug courts.

Jails and prisons have been slow to offer this form of treatment despite the overwhelming evidence of the effectiveness of mat. The ohio department of mental health and addiction services ohiomhas is conducting a program in select counties providing addiction treatment to individuals who are offenders within the criminal justice system eligible to participate in mat drug court and with a substance use disorder. A study published in 2012 found that 56 percent of drug courts offer mat however 98 percent of drug courts reported opiate addicted participants. Medication assisted treatment the current opioid crisis has highlighted the need for all treatment courts to adopt best practices related to medication assisted treatment mat.