I am enrolled in a Methadone Maintenance Treatment and get 120mg a day, which is actually more than I need to feel normal, for that I need 100mg a day so I save up 20mg each day as well. A couple of months ago I was arrested and after my arrest was sent straight to jail. The same day a doctor from the mental healthcare institution came by and asked me about the medication I take. I told them about the Methadone and the dosage, and at what clinic I'm enlisted. I also told here about the dextro-amphetamine I take daily for my ADD, and that I also take Rohypnol each night to sleep and am prescribed it, which wasn't actually true but I was allowed to grab some medicine from my home during my arrest to take with me to jail, and so I wisely grabbed some Roofies. The doctor prescribed me the Methadone at the dose I was prescribed before my arrest, as well as the dextro-amphetamine and Rohypnol. The doctor only inquired about my Methadone prescription and whether if that was true according to my Methadone clinic, but never bothered to ask my general practitioner about the dextro-amphetamine and Roofies ....
After staying 6 day's in jail, I was sent to prison for another two weeks, and the prison had it's own doctors as well as their own pharmacy. Once I arrived there, everything was already taken care of before I even went to see the prison doctor for the first time. However, the doctor there didn't want to prescribe me the Flunitrazepam anymore because I was already getting Methadone, I though that was insane, I just as well might have been a long term benzo dependent person ...
To reply to the four questions;
1# People who are addicted to Heroin can ask for an intake appointment with a mental /addiction healthcare professional when they arrive at the jail or prison, and they will see that doctor before the end of that same day, no matter which day of the week it is or. Based on that the doctor on call will prescribe Methadone to stabilize the inmate and prevent any withdrawl. The inmate will be kept on a maintenance dose for the duration of their stay, they are not forced to taper while in prison or jail.
2#People who were prescribed Methadone or Buprenorphine before entering prison or jail can ask for an intake appointment with a mental/addiction healthcare professional when they arrive at the jail or prison, and they will see that doctor before the end of that same day, no matter which day of the week it is or. Based on that the doctor on call will prescribe them their Methadone or Buprenorphine in the dose they were prescribed before entering the prison or jail, in the mean time contact will be sought with the doctor from the addiction clinic who treats the inmate to verify about the Methadone or Buprenorphine. The inmate will be kept on the same dose as prescbribed beforehand to be used as a maintenance dose for the duration of their stay, they are not forced to taper while in prison or jail.
3# People who were prescribed any other physically addictive or otherwise important medication before entering prison or jail can ask for an intake appointment with a mental or regular healthcare professional when they arrive at the jail or prison, and they will see that doctor before the end of that same day, no matter which day of the week it is or. Based on that the doctor on call will prescribe them their medication in the dose they were prescribed before entering the prison or jail, in the mean time contact will be sought with the doctor(s) who treated the inmate before entering prison or jail to verify about their medication. The inmate will be kept on the same dose as of their medication for the duration of their stay, unless for medical reasons it needs to be changed.
4#I don't know what lortab is, but if you mean with weaker opioids something like pentazocine or tramadol, the protocol and treatment will also depend on wether this/these opioid(s) were used illicitly or prescribed by a doctor instead. If taken illicitly, it's the same protocol as with #1 and if it's prescribed by a doctor, it's the same protocol as with #2.
This is all for jails and prison in the Netherlands, most certainly the best country in the world to be locked up if you had to choose, I can confirm that myself ...
Also regarding fatalities caused by opioid withdrawal, Methadone and most strong, short-acting semi-synthetic opioids can be fatal to withdraw from indirectly and when untreated, but withdrawal from Fentanyl and it's directive, especially when addicted to high doses or after long time use can actually be fatal due to direct causes, and it's by far the worst stuff to withdraw from.
Thats great for you, but the person who u responded to was askin about how it works here in the US. The steps that u listed aint NOTHING like how it works here. Especially in certain areas. If you get locked up in a nice county jail in some kind of region that is home to lots of upscale wealthy upper class people then you might have a chance. but get locked up in a a ghetto ass jail in a poor county in a overcrowded state for example Essex (Newark) or Passaic (paterson) county jail in NJ, cook county jail in illinois (chicago) and so on. When you get locked up somewhere like that forget everything you could hope for and prepare to be fucked as long as you stuck there. nobody gives a shit if you kickin, if you seizuring, if you fall off your bed and crack ur head open, if you just about dying , you might just end up dead if they dont bother to come to you before its too late.
If you think that anybody would give 2 fucks about whether or not u got ur methadone, u gonna be disappointed pretty bad. IF you are lucky enough to get on methadone, which SOME county jails offer and i mean SOME, if you are lucky, becuz most dont, then you will get 5 days of rapid decreasing doses and after the 5th day u on ur own. and thats considered the luxury treatment right there.
Wherever the hell u was locked up at, that is the most unheard of, amazing kind of treatment/care that i ever heard of in any type of jail , shit. I cant believe that shit yo, that is really somethin else. you shouldnt be assumin that its like that for the rest of us tho. While it seems like the procedures that you said should be the normal way of dealin with shit and it seems obvious to you that its just how you would expect them to deal with it, the sad reality of it is that the most basic, obvious type of care, shit that is almost on a basic human-rights level such as bein allowed the medication that you WILL become SEVERELY, EXTREMELY, DANGEROUSLY ill or possibly DIE without, is just the standard procedure.
thats the fucked up part. The standard response to a person in severe withdrawals askin about a jail dr to get them some meds, would be somethin like this:
"Oh, the dopefeen gettin dopesick? too bad junkie, you a junkie, why should we help you, you the one who fucked up and got a addiction for yourself! None of us made you go out there and shoot heroin in your veins, how the fuck it got somethin to do with us, huh? Aint no doctor gonna give you methadone. you think we gonna pay for yo ass to feel better cuz you sick? you gonna be here either way. Aint like you goin nowhere , so dont think we give a fuck bout how you think our "customer service" works up in here. Dont matter to us. Whether you sick or you aint, yo ass still gonna be in that cell so you tell me why the hell you think anybody here would be obligated to do a damn thing for you?
In case u forgot, you here cuz you did a CRIME, so now you sick, boo hoo, so you want us to reward you with drugs? aint DRUGS why you in here in the first place? Wow, that diesel really DID fuck up your brain. The fuck you think this is , a country club? You out your mind? You think you here to have fun? You think we care if you feel good or not? You in JAIL girl, you aint SUPPOSE to feel good. you here to get PUNISHED, so you better shut yo'ass up and stop actin like we owe you somethin."
Even worse, a person who AINT a dopehead, who is on drugs for MMT or pain management, will STILL not get their shit. THAT is the part that really makes me sick, becuz while ANY OPIATE PATIENT deserves their medications at all times, I can see how the jails would be like "hey, you only on MMT cuz you was a drug addict so you dont NEED that shit, its only cuz you a drug feen." but for PM, how the fuck they can say anything about that? I dont understand how they can deny people who is prescribed that shit BEFORE they ever got locked up.
I was watchin the news just the other day about a NJ man who has realy bad MS, and he got caught with medical marijuana. See the law is alraedy signed and technically legalized but it didnt take effect til this summer. so even tho the law already on the books, they didnt make it retroactive so this dude who started doin his weed plants once the law got passed but before it went into effect, got busted and got send to jail cuz of it, WITHOUT his pain meds. Dudes on like, Opana or oxycontin or morphine or some shit like that, not no lil vicodin pills, and they denied him his 100% LEGITIMATE PAIN MEDS, for THREE MONTHS while he was in there. He said he could barely move whiel he was locked up the pain was so bad. And nobody gave a fuck. Nobody listend when he said, yo, i got muthafucking Multiple Sclreosis in this bitch, I take more painkillers in a hour than a bitch with a broken leg takes in a week, i am PHYSICALLY DEPENDENT on this medication and i NEED IT TO FUNCTION, it will be dangerous if i dont have it....And just like all the junkies and methadone patients and all the "nogood scumbag drug addicts", they ignored him and passed him on by without even a second thought, without nobody even makin a phone call to his doctor to verify the pills, doses, and actual need for it.
Im sorry my post is so long but i had to write back to u, becuz its a totally different system here in the US than u described, and if somebody didnt read carefully they might get misled into thinking that u described how it works in the US and be in for a bad suprise if they ever get locked up, u feel me?