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Trumbull probation department reports success with opiate-blocker Vivitrol
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
An experiment at the Trumbull County Sheriff’s office with Vivitrol, a drug that blocks the effects of opiates, has gone well but has only included one patient so far.
More encouraging are the efforts of the Trumbull County Adult Probation Department, which has helped 25 to 30 probationers start on the treatment over the past six months.
“At this time, we feel it’s an unequivocal success, and we hope it continues,” said Keith Evans, chief probation officer.
Adult Probation has been referring probationers for their first dose of Vivitrol to the Lloyd McCoy Health Center on Niles Road, where the probation department has an agreement with ONE Health Ohio to get a dose of Vivitrol for $700. The normal cost of the shot is $1,100 to $1,200.
Adult probation has had to pay for a probationer’s dose only about five times because most qualify for it to be paid through Medicaid, Evans said.
The success rate has been 85 to 90 percent, which Evans says is “much higher” than many other types of treatment.
The initial experiment with Vivitrol involved a jail inmate who had a pending case before Judge W. Wyatt McKay of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.
McKay, Sheriff Thomas Altiere and the Trumbull County Mental Health and Recovery Board decided last January to see if Vivitrol could help jailed addicts.
The inmate had been in the jail 70 days, and a family member was willing to pay $1,200 for the first monthly injection. The program typically takes 12 months.
“I decided to take a chance,” Judge McKay said. The judge could have sent the man to prison for a probation violation.
The jail’s part was providing the nurse to make sure the inmate was a suitable candidate for the injection. The inmate received the dose in January.
When asked about the inmate Friday, Altiere said he is “doing good” and has not been back to jail.
Evans began referring probationers for Vivitrol just after the inmate began his Vivitrol treatment.
Adult probation is looking for a new form of funding to provide the money to provide Vivitrol, Evans said, because state grant money the agency started getting two years go is apparently ending soon, Evans said.
Dr. Daniel Brown, clinical director for Meridian HealthCare, said Meridian chooses among three medications for its clients but uses Suboxone the most. Methadone is used for people who are not successful on Suboxone, he said.
Meridian uses Vivitrol among populations similar to the ones the Adult Probation Department sees — what are sometimes called a “coerced,” population, meaning people who are on probation or otherwise have a threat hanging over their heads, such as prison.
Clinical trials have shown that the success rate among the general population is higher for Suboxone than Vivitrol, Brown said.
“They are using it in a very limited population,” Brown said of the probation department.
Carolyn Givens, executive director of Neil Kennedy Recovery Centers, said Neil Kennedy added Vivitrol to its toolbox in April, and about 40 clients are using it now. “Those using Vivitrol seem to be fine so far,” she said.