Sen. Steven A. Tolman, D-Brighton, announced last week that a new $5 million appropriation was included in the Fiscal Year 2009 Budget for a pre-arraignment jail diversion program to treat those suffering from a dependency to OxyContin or heroin.

The program, introduced in the Senate version of the budget, was included in the House and Senate conference committee report and survived Governor Patrick’s line item vetoes. The new line item (4512-0202) will establish two 60-bed facilities providing inpatient treatment services to those individuals deemed appropriate by the Dept. of Public Health and the District Attorney. Individuals will be diverted to a treatment facility for up to ninety days with case management and follow-up care up to a year after their release from the facility. The program is a new and innovative response to an opiate epidemic that has exacted a heavy toll on the Commonwealth.

Sen. Tolman said, “The establishment of a ninety day treatment program is what we need to combat substance abuse, it is my hope that this pilot program will provide individuals with the effective and thorough treatment necessary to reclaim their lives. This program will be a tremendous resource for families struggling to help a family member with this dreaded disease.”

The jail diversion program will be a model for policy makers as they evaluate the best means to cope with an ever-increasing rate of substance abuse. The pilot’s emphasis on long-term treatment and follow up care reflects what we now know about the neurobiological changes that occur in the brain as a result of prolonged abuse of opiates. According to the Dept. of Public Health, poisonings, the majority of which are drug overdoses, eclipsed motor vehicle fatalities as the leading cause of injury death in Massachusetts. In 2006, 637 people died from an opiate related overdose in the Commonwealth, up from 544 in 2005 and 94 in 1990.