Extended-release naltrexone and drug treatment courts: Policy and evidence for implementing an evidence-based treatment.
Abstract
With insufficient access to treatment and a tradition of criminalizing addiction,
people with substance use disorders - including opioid dependence - are more likely
to be incarcerated than they are to receive the treatment they need. Drug treatment
courts aim to address this problem, engaging their participants in substance use treatment
in lieu of incarceration. Drug courts offer an especially important window of opportunity
to connect opioid-dependent participants to extended-release naltrexone (XR-NTX),
at a time when they are under highly-structured court supervision and required to
detoxify from opioids to participate. Given the high cost of XR-NTX and high rates
of uninsurance in the drug court population, new rigorous cost-effectiveness evidence
is needed to demonstrate the extent to which XR-NTX improves program outcomes, including
by reducing recidivism. With that new evidence, drug courts and the counties in which
they are situated can make informed and difficult policy decisions about funding XR-NTX
for some of their highest-risk community members.
Type
Journal articlePermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/13938Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1016/j.jsat.2017.02.016Publication Info
Robertson, Allison G; & Swartz, Marvin S (2017). Extended-release naltrexone and drug treatment courts: Policy and evidence for implementing
an evidence-based treatment. J Subst Abuse Treat. 10.1016/j.jsat.2017.02.016. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/13938.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
Collections
More Info
Show full item recordScholars@Duke
Allison Gilbert
Associate Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Research interests include mental health and substance abuse services and policy;
links between mental illness, substance abuse and criminal justice involvement; effectiveness
of criminal diversion and prison re-entry programs for adults with serious mental
illness; and other legal and policy mechanism as mental health interventions.
Marvin Stanley Swartz
Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
My major research interest is in examining the effectiveness of services for severely
mentally ill individuals, including factors that improve or impede good outcomes.
Current research includes: the effectiveness of involuntary outpatient commitment,
psychiatric advance directives, criminal justice outcomes for persons with mental
illnesses, violence and mental illness and antipsychotic medications. I also served
as member of the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Mandate
Alphabetical list of authors with Scholars@Duke profiles.

Articles written by Duke faculty are made available through the campus open access policy. For more information see: Duke Open Access Policy
Rights for Collection: Scholarly Articles
Works are deposited here by their authors, and represent their research and opinions, not that of Duke University. Some materials and descriptions may include offensive content. More info