The use of intravenous drugs in a correctional setting pose many health risks to inmates including exposure to many viruses, which affect the liver, immune system and overall functioning of the body. A few examples are hepatitis C and HIV. Methadone Maintenance Treatment is an initiative that helps reduce the harmful withdrawal effects and stabilize behaviours that are associated to Heroin. Therefore, the most proactive approach is treatment to help with the abuse of the drugs. (Johnson, 2001).
A heroin treatment program used in federal institutions is called Methadone Maintenance Treatment also known as (MMT). MMT works by injecting heroin addicts with methadone, which is a synthetic analgesic, drug that actives the same opiate receptors as heroin by using this treatment the individual is less likely to experience withdrawal symptoms, some participants have reported
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The first group consisted of offenders who participated in an MMT program while incarcerated. The Non-MMT group consisted of offenders that had at least one positive urinalysis test that contained traces of opiates and who were classified as having a drug addiction. The study found that those who participated in the MMT program reoffended at a lower rate rather than those who did not participate in MMT. Non-MMT offenders were more likely to receive a violation to abstain from alcohol at 9% versus MMT participants at 2%. The readmission rate was 29% for MMT participants compared to 44% for Non-MMT offenders.
Overall, the inmates who participated in the MMT program had a lower rate of recidivism, violations of abstinence conditions, being unlawfully at large and reoffending. Although, the program was unable to determine the length of the use of heroin, how often they used it and how addicted they were in terms of usage it still has shown that participants of MMT benefit from the program while