This story is part of an occasional series on the opioid crisis.
From the moment they are arrested, people with an addiction to heroin and prescription painkillers and those who are taking medications to beat their addictions face the prospect of painful opioid withdrawal.
At least a quarter of the people in U.S. prisons and jails are addicted to opioids. Those who are released rejoin their communities with dangerously reduced tolerance and nothing to blunt their drug cravings, making them highly susceptible to a deadly overdose.
But new scientific evidence and a recently announced federal investigation may soften prison officialsβ long-held opposition to medication-assisted treatment.
[For more on this story by Christine Vestal, go to http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/re...reatment-behind-bars]
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