ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Since Suboxone film strips were removed from the Medicaid Preferred Drug List in July, the amount of the drug recovered in Maryland correctional facilities as contraband has decreased by 41 percent, according to Maryland’s Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.

Suboxone — a drug used to treat opiate addiction — has a high risk of addiction and dependence, and can even lead to death when paired with other drugs or alcohol, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

The medication is easily smuggled into state prisons and jails when it is in the form of a strip, designed to be placed under a user’s tongue, said Gary McLhinney, the director of professional standards at the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Corrections.

“It is an epidemic, the amount of Suboxone that comes in,” said Terry Kokolis, the director of corrections for Anne Arundel County, Maryland, at Wednesday’s meeting of …
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Opiate declines in Md. prisons after cut from Medicaid list