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Last year, I started to research the opioid crisis happening across our nation, and specifically how opioid addiction affects prison populations.
Their is overwhelming evidence that addiction increases the likelihood for criminal reoffending. Opioids were responsible for over 40% of all drug related deaths in Montana. Treatment for opioid addiction is not just a matter of reducing crime, but a matter of life and death.
While researching the gaps in our current system to provide relief to those struggling with opioid addiction, other states, like as Arizona and Colorado, have found success through the use of medication assisted treatment, or MAT. This approach recognizes that addiction is medically classified as an illness and seeks to provide support to those entering Montana prisons for opioid related charges.
I am asking that the Montana state allocate funds to implement the MAT program in prisons. By allocating more funds toward opioid treatment programs in Montana prisons, we can make our communities safer and our people healthier.
