The Opioid Crisis in America & the Role Medical-Legal Partnership Can Play in Recovery
Description
The current opioid epidemic is a public health crisis, devastating urban, suburban, and rural communities across the United States. Alongside Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) programs, which combine behavioral therapy with the careful use of milder opiates to prevent withdrawal symptoms, there is an increased focus among policymakers and healthcare providers on how social supports and services help support people in recovery.
This issue brief examines how legal services delivered alongside medical and behavioral health services can help support successful recovery from substance use disorders. It highlights case studies of individuals in recovery who were aided by medical-legal partnership services, and looks at how existing recovery-based MLP programs in Ohio, Indiana, and Nevada operate. The brief offers a window into how legal services, integrated into existing recovery efforts, can play a role in alleviating the crisis.
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Author
Jay Chaudhary, JD, Managing Attorney & Director of Medical-Legal Partnerships, Indiana Legal Services & Adjunct Faculty, Indiana University Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health
Kate Marple, MSc, Senior Research Scientist & Director of Communications, National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership
Jillian Bajema, Research Assistant National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership
This issue brief was published by the National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership.
Acknowledgement
This issue brief is possible thanks to generous support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Kresge Foundation.