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Medication-assisted treatment with medicines like methadone or buprenorphine is the standard of care for pregnant people with substance use disorders who are withdrawing because it can drastically reduce these health risks.

Yet medicines like buprenorphine and methadone are not always available to pregnant people who are incarcerated.

“Sometimes people who work in jails just don’t believe this is an appropriate treatment and they don’t want any opioids in their jail — even if it is methadone or buprenorphine treatment.”

In the 20 years that Kim has been using buprenorphine, there have been several times where changes in her life, like her move, or changes in policy have abruptly cut her off from her medication.

Medications like buprenorphine and methadone are considered the gold standard for treating addiction, according to decades of research, because they can reduce deaths as well as improve social functionality.