San Diego County Jail Slashes Opioid Prescription Rates
The jail has seen a 98 percent drop from the beginning of 2013, when nearly 1,000 inmates were prescribed more than 77,000 narcotic painkiller pills. But officials also say they're seeing an uptick in attempts to smuggle heroin in to prisoners.
The San Diego Union-Tribune:
Weaning The County Jail Population Off Opioids
It wasn’t long ago that a complaint of pain at a San Diego County jail easily scored an inmate a prescription for an opioid. These days, the highly addictive, highly abused painkillers have been largely swapped out for Tylenol and ibuprofen as part of a program to stem the cycle of opioid addiction behind bars. So much so, that an inmate with an opioid prescription is a rarity. Last month, only 23 inmates, including those with cancer, were prescribed an opioid. That’s less than 1 percent of the total jail population. The number represents a 98 percent drop from the beginning of 2013, when nearly 1,000 inmates were prescribed more than 77,000 narcotic painkiller pills. (Davis, 4/23)
In other news on the crisis —
The San Diego Union-Tribune:
County Concerned About Rise In Wound Botulism Cases Among Heroin Users; First Death Reported
A death and six cases in only one month has San Diego County’s public health department sounding an ever-louder alarm about wound botulism among the region’s black tar heroin users. According to the latest update from the county Health and Human Services Agency, released Friday afternoon, a 67-year-old man died recently despite being treated with antitoxin after he was hospitalized with botulism symptoms, which can range from double vision and slurred speech to drooping eyelids and difficulty swallowing. (Sisson, 4/20)