Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Erie County Sheriff John Garcia announced Wednesday morning the implementation of a Medication-Assisted Treatment program (MAT) for those suffering from a substance use disorder.
This has been the result of a long ongoing effort of implementation with combined efforts from Erie County Sheriff's office, Erie County legislators, the Erie County Department of Mental Health, Save the Michaels and BestSelf Behavioral Health.
"Although the Sheriff's office was offering these programs for those addicted with opiates, I wanted to provide a more robust option. So I began meeting with our partners that are here today in January to implement the best MAT program in New York State. The MAT program provides continued care for those admitted to the holding center who are currently prescribed medication for opiate addiction," said Sheriff John Garcia.
The Sheriff said prior to the implementation of this program, people who were prescribed suboxone or methadone could not have access to their medication once they arrived to the holding center.
"As you can imagine, it comes with severe withdrawal symptoms. It would come with suicidal ideations, attempted suicides, and unfortunately, suicides. So it also offers treatments to those that are diagnosed with substance use disorder that come in and are assessed by our medical staff," said the sheriff.
The program has been implemented for about six weeks now. Individuals when they get admitted will be screened for a substance use disorder and will voluntarily participate in the program where they will go into peer support groups facilitated by Save the Michaels. In addition to being monitored by Correctional Health Services staff, participants in the program will have access to several medications if needed, including methadone, Suboxone or Vivitrol. BestSelf will then connect the incarcerated upon release, to individual programs to ensure continued care.
"The MAT program was something that legislators have been talking about for a very long time. My former colleague, Legislator John Bruso, back in 2019, identified $1 million in the budget back then, to be able to start a match treatment program in our local jail system. In his absence, I lift him up because today, his vision is really coming to fruition," said Erie County Legislator April Baskin.
"Today is International Overdose Awareness Day and this program is going to prevent the overdose of individuals who are addicted to opioids. The work that we did to get to this point led us to a program that is a best practice program, the best in all of New York, I believe. It's a program that not only focuses on an individual receiving a medication for their addiction, but it's what happens next, what happens with counseling, what happens when they're back in society, with jobs and with their families with housing," said Erie County Legislator and chair of the Health and Human Services committee, Lisa Chimera.
Sheriff John Garcia says that every county facility in New York State is expected to follow suit with similar programs for the incarcerated by the end of the calendar year.
See the player below for the full announcement: