Albuquerque jail offers treatment for opioid addiction

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The Metropolitan Detention Center in Albuquerque has begun a program to give buprenorphine to people in jail who are already using it to treat their opioid addictions.

The Albuquerque Journal reports the program can provide an average of 22 inmates per day with the medication.

Recovery Services of New Mexico — a treatment organization run — received a contract to provide the medication at the jail late.

For now, Recovery Services will provide buprenorphine only to those who had already been using the medication before they were locked up.

But a county health services spokesman said the county will explore expanding the program to start people on the treatment.