[USA] Area prisons open up to methadone / The Morning Call, 23 Jan 2007
http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-a1_5methadonejan23,0,2618140.story
Ann Wlazelek
" Advocates say continuing treatment for short-term inmates cuts recidivism. With critics long holding that methadone is nothing more than a legal replacement for an illegal heroin addiction, few prisoners nationwide have received the bitter medicine in jail unless they were pregnant and at risk of losing an unborn child to withdrawal. But that is changing. Lehigh County Prison has agreed to join Northampton and Berks county prisons in taking the next controversial step: continuing methadone treatment for short-term inmates who had been taking the medicine before incarceration. ''It's effective immediately,'' Lehigh County Director of Corrections said about providing methadone maintenance in the prison. Spurred by proponents who say treatment helps addicts resist heroin and avoid returning to jail, Sweeney said, ''It's a growing trend.''