Across North Carolina, an average of five people a day lose their lives due to opioid overdose.

Astonishingly, the opioid overdose mortality rate for former jail and prison inmates is over 40 times higher than that of people in the general population – and studies also found that those overdoses among former inmates were the highest during the first two weeks after the person was released from custody.

Which is why the Guilford County Sheriff’s Department is happy to see  $225,000 in state grant money meant to grow an in-house jail program created to address that problem.

 The Medication-Assisted Treatment Grant – also known as “MAT” – from the NC Department of Public Safety (NCDPS), was established to help county Sheriff’s Offices in the state combat this crisis of addiction and withdrawal in their detention centers.

Guilford County Government has been awarded just under $225,000 to expand its Medication-Assisted Treatment program for three years in the county’s two jails.

The program uses a combination of medications, counseling and behavioral therapies to treat drug addiction and other substance abuse disorders. It adopts a  “whole-patient” approach for battling drug opioid addiction – whether that be heroin or a variety of prescription pain relievers that are so widely abused these days. Inmates have to want the treatment in order to get it, but officials with the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office say the number of addicted inmates who want to be in the program is high.

Drug addiction is one of the leading causes of recidivism and this new grant money will allow the Sheriff’s Office to help some inmates while in custody as well as after they get out.

Guilford County – especially the High Point area – has been hit hard by the opioid crisis, and the overdose statistics for Guilford County as a whole slightly exceed state averages.

The Medication-Assisted program combines the use of monitored medications like buprenorphine and naltrexone – together with counseling and behavioral therapies for the inmates –  in order to provide what’s been proven to be an effective treatment for drug abuse among inmates.

In October of last year, 86 inmates in Guilford County jails took part in the program’s “induction phase,” which helps inmates transition from drug addiction to a medically monitored regimen that can continue once they get out of jail.

One hurdle the program has faced recently in Guilford County is a shortage of staff. That has especially limited the availability of the program at the High Point jail.

This new grant will help by allowing the Sheriff’s Office to hire part-time “Certified Peer Support Specialists” who’ll provide the inmates with support as they re-enter society and get into relapse prevention programs.

The new specialists will also offer post-release follow-up twice a year and will help grow the Sheriff’s Office’s existing program.

The Sheriff’s Office is also partnering with several community organizations to help the inmates and former inmates who’ve been battling drug addiction.

Unlike some federal and state grants, this MAT program doesn’t require any matching funds from the county; and it also doesn’t obligate Guilford County government to continue funding the program once the grant funds run out.

However, as part of the grant’s conditions, the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office must submit quarterly performance reports meant to reveal effectiveness and ensure accountability.

Accepting state grant money is one of the easiest decisions that is ever faced by the Guilford County Board of Commissioners and the board is expected to vote unanimously to accept the funds on Thursday, Aug. 15 at the commissioners’ next regular meeting.

Some of the information provided to the commissioners in support of this program’s grant request shows that the addiction and overdose problem in Guilford County has been slightly worse on average than the overdose problem for the rest of the state.

“In 2022, North Carolina’s average overdose death rate was 41.4 per 100,000 residents while Guilford County’s rate was 42.4 per 100,000 people,” a memorandum to the Board of Commissioners this week reads. “In 2023, the overdose emergency department visit rate in North Carolina was 161.4 out of 100,000 people while the rate in Guilford County was 191.2 per 100,000 residents. In 2022, the overdose death rate from illicit drug involvement in Guilford County was 80.7 per 100,000 overdose deaths, beating the state average of 78.9 per 100,000. This places Guilford County in the high range among North Carolina counties. According to the NC Department of Health and Human Services Division of Public Health, from 2017 through 2021 the statewide average for medication and drug overdose deaths was 27.6 per 100,000 residents, while Guilford County’s average was 29.6 per 100,000 residents.”

Right now, every time an inmate is admitted into custody, they’re screened for medical, mental health, drug and alcohol use history – and the inmates who are at risk of withdrawal are monitored and evaluated by jail staff every eight hours.

The first phase of the program involves switching the inmates from opioid abuse to a medically monitored buprenorphine regimen. The goal in this in initial phase is to find the dosage of buprenorphine at which the patient discontinues or markedly diminishes the use of other opioids, experiences no withdrawal symptoms, and faces minimal or no side effects – including no uncontrollable cravings for illicit opioids.

The county’s jail system also offers naltrexone/vivitrol for inmates who want a narcotic-free alternative to opioid addiction treatment.

There’s also group and individual counseling, and, upon release, follow-up appointments with monthly drug testing for those out of jail.

 With the new grant money, the Sheriff’s Office expects to reach about 60 people a day with the MAT program.

The Office will be required to submit performance data quarterly and upon request, including:

  • Unduplicated number of individuals served in Guilford County
  • Aggregated demographic information such as the race, age, and gender identity of individuals served
  • Type and number of doses of FDA-approved drugs for the treatment of alcohol and/or opioid use disorder administered during incarceration
  • Type and number of doses of FDA-approved drugs for the treatment of alcohol and/or opioid use disorder administered after release
  • Number of referrals to community-based MAT programs
  • Explanation of expenditures.