Orange County Florida Expands Vivitrol-Based Jail Addiction Treatment Program

On July 17, 2017, the county commissioners in Orange County, Florida, approved spending $500,000 to expand the county’s jail medication assisted treatment (MAT) program that provides Vivitrol for jail inmates with heroin addiction disorder. Non-narcotic Vivitrol is an extended-release injection medication that offsets the euphoric effects of opioids. The proposal will now move forward for inclusion in the final budget hearings scheduled for September 7 and 21.

The program, called the Community Vivitrol Program, started as a pilot in 2016 using federal funds, but was only able to accept 40 participants. As of February 2016, about . . .