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Abstract: 

According to the Federal Bureau of Prison Statistics, approximately 12% of patients booked in U.S. jails have committed a crime related to drug dependency or drug abuse. Opioid dependence is increasingly thought of as a chronic disease, much like high blood pressure and diabetes. Yet unlike these diseases, opioid dependency caries a very powerful stigma rooted in the centuries-old belief that opioid dependence is a moral failure. Only within the last 20 years have researchers begun to realize that opioid dependence is a medical condition, caused by changes in the brain.

Keywords: withdrawal, methadone, levo-alpha-acetyl-methadol, Subutex, Clinical Opiate Withdrawal Scale

Affiliations:  1: Armor Correctional Health Services.