L.A. County Jails Cut Back Buprenorphine Access, Waitlist Hits 835

Overview

• A Sept. 16 memo from Chief Medical Officer Sean Henderson paused primary‑care prescribing of buprenorphine and limited new starts to booking intake, sending others to a waitlist.
• As of Oct. 31, 835 people were waiting for medication‑assisted treatment in the jails, with an average delay of about 25 days.
• Overdose deaths account for at least 28% of in‑custody deaths this year, up from 9% in 2016, prompting warnings from jail clinicians and civil‑rights advocates about treatment delays.
• The Department of Health Services says the shift is meant to maximize program reach, noting roughly $25 million in annual funding and that an extra $8 million in opioid settlement funds did not increase treatment capacity.
• Rising daily jail counts by roughly 700 after Proposition 36 and a state lawsuit by Attorney General Rob Bonta over jail conditions form the backdrop for the cutbacks and concerns the changes could prove deadly.