Los Angeles County Jail Reduces Access To Buprenorphine For Opioid Use Disorder Treatment

January 7, 2026

In November 2025, Correctional Health Services, which provides medical and behavioral health treatment at the Los Angeles County jails, implemented a new policy for buprenorphine for opioid use disorder that restricts how physicians prescribe the medication, according to a recent news report. Under the new policy, priority for medication assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid use disorder is given to people when they first enter the jail system. Those who accept buprenorphine MAT on intake receive buprenorphine promptly. Those who do not accept MAT on arrival and later change their mind are placed on a waitlist and may not be able to access treatment during the remainder of their incarceration.

On December 17, 2025, the California Coalition of Alcohol and Drug Associations (CADA) sent a letter to the chair of the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors urging them to reverse the Correctional Health Services policy change. CADA’s letter said the policy change “sharply” restricted access to MAT for opioid use disorder. The letter stated that in just over a month, the MAT waitlist more than doubled from 363 to 835 people, with an average wait time of 25 days.

In its letter, CADA noted Los Angeles County received an additional $8 million in opioid settlement funds in the most recent fiscal year for jail health care, but the MAT program seemingly did not receive a corresponding increase in support.

“These dollars were intended to save lives and address the harms of the opioid crisis,” said Dr. Le Ondra Clark Harvey, chief executive officer of the California Behavioral Health Association. “Using them to backfill unrelated jail costs while people wait weeks for basic medical treatment is a betrayal of the public trust.”

CADA recommended the Board of Supervisors take four immediate steps:

• Eliminate the MAT waitlist and restore full, clinical access to buprenorphine and other evidence-based medications throughout a person’s incarceration—not just at intake.
• Guarantee continuity of care, so that people on MAT in the community can continue treatment when taken into custody, and those who start MAT in jail transition directly to community providers upon release.
• Deploy opioid settlement funds as intended, to expand MAT capacity and staffing rather than to backfill unrelated jail needs.
• Build formal partnerships with community providers to create a “no wrong door” system linking jail-based care to residential, outpatient, and recovery support services after release.

CADA and its member organizations offered to work with the Board of Supervisors, Correctional Health Services, and Los Angeles County jail leadership to design and implement a comprehensive, clinically sound treatment response that protects patient safety and public safety.

The new policy was reported in LA Jails Scale Back Opioid Addiction Treatment As Fatal Overdoses Continue on November 14, 2025, by CalMatters (accessed January 7, 2026).

The full text of the CADA letter was posted December 12, 2025, and is available online (accessed January 6, 2026).

For more information, contact: Robert Layne, Executive Director, California Association of Alcohol and Drug Program Executives, 1017 L Street, PMB #648, Sacramento, California 95814-3805; 916-329-7409; Website: https://caadpe.org/