People addicted to prescription or illicit opiates have OUD, a chronic condition often accompanied by changes to brain chemistry. It is a protected disability under the ADA. By stabilizing physical and psychological cravings for opioids, MAT can help people manage their OUD and achieve better outcomes in recovery. Many people with opioid use disorder need to remain on MAT for years and in some cases, their entire lives to decrease the risk of relapse and overdose.
The ADA prohibits singling out a group of people because of their disability and denying them access to medical services to which they would otherwise be entitled. The Whatcom County Jail has a policy of denying people with OUD the medication they need while providing necessary medication to everyone else, which is discrimination.
The Jail’s policy also inflicts unnecessary suffering. People with OUD who are denied their medication suffer unnecessarily from opioid withdrawal. They also face an increased likelihood that they will overdose and potentially die if they relapse upon release from the Jail.
“The Whatcom County Jail’s categorical refusal to provide people with opioid use disorder the treatment keeping them in recovery violates federal law,” said ACLU-WA Equal Justice Works Fellow Jessica Wolfe. “It’s also dangerous. If a person in the Jail suffered from a heart condition and needed medication the Jail would provide it, but it denies access to Medication-Assisted Treatment, which reduces the risk of overdose and death. This is unsafe and discriminatory.” The lawsuit was filed on behalf of two plaintiffs who have been harmed by the discriminatory policy:
— Read on www.aclu-wa.org/news/aclu-washington-lawsuit-whatcom-county-jail-violating-ada-refusing-medication-people-opioid-use
Whatcom County Jail violating ADA by refusing medication to people with opioid use disorder | ACLU of Washington
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