Editorial: Jail Not a Health Clinic

If cost was to be a consideration in how or whether the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center should distribute methadone to inmates who are addicts, it has just jumped fourfold in importance.

Recovery Services, the company that contracts to provide the drug to MDC, just increased its fee almost 400 percent. What has been costing Bernalillo County about $10,000 a month will start costing $37,500 a month come Jan. 1. The increase reflects in part the loss of state funding to help cover the cost of offering a methadone program at the jail.

That’s money that is likely to come at the expense of other health or rehabilitative programs at the lock-up.

In November, MDC officials had announced intentions to stop the methadone service, but that plan was put on hold after protestations from doctors and activists who said an abrupt end to the program could be painful to inmates and potentially dangerous.

The County Commission is expected to take up the issue at its Jan 8 meeting.

While the county has an obligation to provide health care for inmates, the jail’s main purpose is to temporarily house those arrested for or convicted of crimes. It is not a high-dollar community health clinic for drug-maintenance.

And while forcing inmates to go cold turkey would be a less than humane policy, the sudden, steep methadone price hike also increases the importance of a step-down program as a jail policy for dealing with drug addicts who become inmates.

This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.