Judge: the prison must provide medical treatment

A federal judge ordered a Maine prison to provide medical treatment to an inmate who states that it is necessary to maintain her opioid consumption disorder in remission.

The judge granted a preliminary injunction to Aroostook County Jail to provide him with buprenorphine prescribed by a physician to Brenda Smith.

The Madawaska resident claims that the drug, sold as Suboxone, reduces pain withdrawal symptoms and reduces the risk of relapse.

Maine's ACLU, which has filed a lawsuit on behalf of Smith, called the judge's ruling Wednesday a "breakthrough in the fight against the opioid crisis."

The decision comes at a time when prisons and jails across the country are beginning to provide drugs for drug addiction to inmates, while the resistance of skeptical correctional officials appears to be easing in the face of the drug epidemic.