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UMass researchers get $10M grant to study opioid treatment

Grant will examine a pilot opioid treatment program for detainees in jails in seven Massachusetts counties.

Researchers at the UMass-Amherst campus received a $10 million grant to help research the effectiveness of opioid addiction treatment in jails. Mark Bonica/Flickr Mark Bonica/Flickr

AMHERST, Mass. (AP) — Researchers at the UMass-Amherst campus and UMass Medical School have received a $10 million grant to help research the effectiveness of opioid addiction treatment in jails and other criminal justice settings.

Elizabeth Evans, assistant professor in the UMass Amherst School of Public Health, and Dr. Peter Friedmann, associate dean of research at the medical school, will use the grant to examine a pilot opioid treatment program for detainees at jails in seven Massachusetts counties.

The grant comes from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Evans says Massachusetts is at the forefront of improving treatment for opioid use disorder in vulnerable populations and understanding the risk of fatal overdose inmates face following their release.

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In all, about a dozen institutions are getting $155 million.

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