White House Drug Czar visits Camden Jail, makes announcement
CAMDEN, N.J. (CBS) -- White House Drug Czar Dr. Rahul Gupta stopped in South Jersey Tuesday. His job is to lead the War on Drugs in America and some of the highest at-risk populations for an overdose are prisons and jails.
"I know it's calmed me down a lot," Mr. Flores, an inmate, said. "I've been coming to this jail since 2002."
Several inmates at the Camden County Jail sit in front of the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and described how the facility's substance use treatment program had helped them battle addiction.
"Coming here has changed a lot so that I wouldn't go back to doing the things that I was doing," Flores said.
The jail launched the medications for opioid use disorder program several years ago to relieve withdrawal symptoms for inmates, to help avoid an overdose, and to improve transition back into the community with housing and services once released.
Gupta toured the jail and called the program a model for the nation.
"You're looking to get people the help of not just while they're here, but the help going back into the community because they live in the community," Gupta said.
Dr. Gupta announced Tuesday that all 122 federal prisons in the country will offer similar treatment by summer to help tackle the growing opioid crisis that he says is killing someone every five minutes.
"That's on the heels of what you're doing right here," Gupta said. "We've learned from you and we want to replicate that."
Dr. Gupta also announced federal funding coming this spring. States will be able to use Medicaid funds to help pay for treatment for people in custody.
The warden at the Camden County Jail says that will help make programs more robust and save lives.
"Those first 12 days that an individual leaves, we have the stats they're 124 times more likely to overdose," Karen Taylor said.
Dr. Gupta also toured Cooper University Health Care to talk about medication.
