Deschutes County jail in 2021.

A medication-based treatment program could soon be available for Deschutes County jail inmates addicted to drugs. The program seeks to put a stop to vicious cycles of addiction-fueled incarceration.

In mid-December, Deschutes County commissioners unanimously approved the addition of two nursing staff members within the county jail. Those new nurses will assess inmates, no matter their length of stay, to determine if they could benefit from medication-assisted treatment, which combines counseling and medication to treat substance-use disorders.

“If we don’t start helping and supporting people and meeting them right where they’re at, we’re just going to continue to perpetuate the same vicious cycle. And we have an opportunity to make a change,” said Josh Lair, a community outreach coordinator for Ideal Option, which partnered with the jail to implement and fund the program.

Ideal Option is a national addiction treatment provider that obtained funding from Measure 110, the 2020 ballot measure most known for decriminalizing hard drugs. The measure also diverted $265 million in marijuana tax revenue across the state for health-based addiction treatment and prevention efforts.

Central Oregon received more than $15 million of that sum dispersed among nine entities. Ideal Option received $1.17 million to implement the medication program in the jail, operate a treatment clinic at a Safeway in Bend and continue outreach support.

“I think it’s important for us as a community to really start changing the tone and the dialogue when it comes to addiction and law enforcement,” Lair said.

Medication-assisted treatment within the jail does many things, Lair said. In the short term, it minimizes the risk for fatal and nonfatal overdoses once people leave custody, Lair said. It also helps address the root cause of why people are in custody in the first place, he said.

Medication-assisted treatment is typically not for people who are in jail for possession. It’s for people who are committing what Lair calls “livability crimes” — crimes like shoplifting or petty theft, which are often committed to support someone’s addiction, Lair said. Other minor crimes like trespassing or other property crimes can be committed for survival reasons, he said.

Medication-assisted treatment improves public safety, said Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel.

“If people are successful in recovery, they’re less likely to commit crimes,” Hummel said.

Since he took office in 2015, Hummel said he witnessed rampant stigma against those who used medication-assisted treatment within the medical community and the recovery community.

Some saw it as cheating to use one substance to get off of another, Hummel said, but full abstinence from drugs isn’t always feasible.

The treatment program in the Deschutes County jail would prescribe Suboxone, which is the brand name for an FDA-approved medication used to treat opioid use disorder.

The main ingredients in Suboxone are naloxone and buprenorphine. It’s taken in the form of a small film under the tongue, and it diminishes withdrawal symptoms, lowers the potential for misuse and increases safety in the event of an overdose, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department.

“We believe this program is very valuable to those who are suffering from addiction,” said Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Michael Shults at the Dec. 19 commissioners meeting. Shults is the jail commander.

While this is the first time the county and the sheriff have committed to change addiction cycles and prevent recidivism, Shults told commissioners, this is just the first step.

Lane County has used a medication-assisted treatment program in its county jail since 2020, said jail commander Capt. Clint Riley. The goal was to offer treatment to anyone who needed it no matter the length of stay, Riley said.

Around 80%-90% of people who come to the Lane County jail have substance use disorders or mental health issues that play a role in their crimes, he said. In his experience, once people were able to get off of addictive drugs, the criminality often disappeared, Riley said.

“Especially when we’re having an opioid crisis in America, we’ve got to pull out all of the stops to try to figure out how to help people, because way too many people are dying due to fentanyl, heroin, any opioid,” Riley said.

Like Lane County’s program, Deschutes County will screen those entering custody for potential signs of substance use or withdrawal symptoms. People will be able to begin Suboxone medication treatment within the jail and continue it once they leave at an area clinic like Ideal Option or BestCare.

Lair, of Ideal Option, said he is aiming to have the program up and running in the Deschutes County jail in February.