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HARRISBURG — A recent settlement between the U.S. Department of Justice and the Pennsylvania court system offers new protections to people who county courts allegedly barred from taking medications for opioid use disorder.
The agreement follows the DOJ alleging the system forced some people under court supervision into a lose-lose scenario: Give up medication prescribed by a doctor or risk going to jail.
Advocates celebrated the settlement, which requires that three county court systems adopt an anti-discrimination policy for substance use disorder medications and that statewide court administrators encourage all other county court systems to do the same.
While still denying the claims, officials overseeing Pennsylvania’s court system agreed to pay $100,000 total to individuals allegedly harmed by the restrictions. Statewide court administrators must also provide training to all judges handling criminal matters and report on which counties agree to adopt the anti-discrimination policy.