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Abstract: 

Recognizing a huge opiate-addiction problem among inmates, New Mexico is breaking new ground by extending methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) to local prisons. Across the country, however, few prisons provide MMT to patients. In February 2004, Bernalillo County, N.M., announced the opening of the nation’s first public-health office inside a county jail and said the program would pilot an MMT initiative as part of its patient services. One month later, the New Mexico Medical Society became the only statewide medical society to endorse prison and jailbased opioid-replacement treatment, passing a resolution calling for “legislation to require the initiation of voluntary opioid replacement treatment . . . in jails and prisons in New Mexico.”

Keywords: Behavioral Health Research Center of the Southwest (BHRCS), Key Extended Entry Program (KEEP), IV Disease Transmission

Affiliations:  .