An alcohol and drug abuse counselor will work out of a medical suite at the Clatsop County Jail.

Last winter, the Clatsop County Jail became one of several across Oregon to implement a medication-assisted treatment program to combat opioid addiction.

The program utilizes medication approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, such as buprenorphine, methadone and naltrexone, to treat opioid dependence by weaning people off opioids and easing withdrawal symptoms.

But Lt. Thomas Teague said medication is only half the process.

“Having the medication alone is huge,” said Teague, the jail commander for the Clatsop County Sheriff’s Office. “But actually getting counseling to go with it is a game changer. You put the two together, and that’s how you get a successful program.”

In July, the county Board of Commissioners allocated $50,000 in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds for a contract between the jail and Clatsop Behavioral Healthcare, the county’s mental health and substance abuse treatment provider. The contract will fund an alcohol and drug abuse counselor to work with the medication-assisted treatment program at the jail.

“We’ve wanted to do this for a long time,” said Amy Baker, the executive director of Clatsop Behavioral Healthcare. “The jail is an excellent opportunity to intervene with folks who are addicted to opioids, because it creates this pause in someone’s life and gives us an opening to reach out.”

The new $27.7 million, 148-bed jail that opened earlier this year in Warrenton expanded the jail’s resources and opportunities for new initiatives. Teague said that with better technology and more space than the old jail in Astoria, the new facility has “changed the way we do business drastically.”

The upgrade includes a new medical suite where the counselor will work with inmates. Inside the suite are two full-sized exam rooms, a nurse’s station and a mental health interview room.

The improved space also helps sheriff’s deputies intervene sooner if inmates are going through withdrawal and crack down on contraband.

“When people with substance use disorders know they’re coming to jail, they pack for the trip,” Teague said. “Luckily, in our new facility, we have a little better control over that, because now we have what we call intake classification.”

Cells equipped with cameras are set aside for an inmate’s first 24 to 72 hours at the jail. The monitoring gives deputies an opportunity to see how new inmates behave. If they are having withdrawal symptoms, the medical team has a chance to treat them early. If they made it through screening with illicit drugs, staff has a chance to find them.

Teague believes medication-assisted treatment programs will become the norm in jails and have the potential to help inmates break their addictions.

“If they stay on the program after being released from jail,” he said, “that’s a success to me.”