Jails and SUDs & Reducing Disparities in Legal System Settings (2025-2026 Recordings)-Addiction Medicine's Opportunity to Reduce Disparities in Substance Use Services in Legal System Settings among BIPOC and Minority Groups Recording

Addiction Medicine's Opportunity to Reduce Disparities in Substance Use Services in Legal System Settings among BIPOC and Minority Groups Recording

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Video Summary

The speaker discusses how to reduce substance use disparities in legal settings, especially for BIPOC and other minoritized communities. They trace the long history of stigma and racialized stereotypes around substance use, emphasizing how racism, poverty, housing instability, low education, and other social drivers contribute to worse health and legal outcomes. The talk highlights the harm of punitive “war on drugs” approaches and the overrepresentation of Black, Indigenous, and Latino people in jails and prisons.<br /><br />Using the Sequential Intercept Model, the speaker outlines practical interventions at each stage: expand Medicaid and community services, improve public education, support crisis intervention teams and sobering centers, ensure jail/prison health care and medically supervised withdrawal, provide naloxone and continuity of care during reentry, and partner with probation/parole offices. The main message is that meaningful change requires moving upstream, building partnerships, and treating substance use as a health issue rather than relying on punishment.

Keywords

substance use disparities

BIPOC communities

Sequential Intercept Model

criminal justice reform

harm reduction

medication-assisted treatment