US Justice Department finds Pennsylvania courts discriminate against opioid users News
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US Justice Department finds Pennsylvania courts discriminate against opioid users

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) Monday publicly released a letter that found Pennsylvania’s court system violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) because it prohibited or limited individuals under court supervision from taking medication to treat opioid use disorder (OUD).

The DOJ opened an investigation after receiving complaints from two individuals alleging that the Jefferson County Court of Common Pleas ordered all probationers to stop using their prescribed medication for OUD. The DOJ then received a complaint from another individual regarding the same issue in the Northumberland County Court of Common Pleas. She alleged that the court required her to stop using her OUD medication to graduate from drug court.

Through its investigation, the DOJ found evidence that other Pennsylvania county courts also had “problematic policies that prohibit or otherwise limit the use of OUD medication by individuals under court supervision.” Because of this,  Pennsylvania’s court system violated Title II of the ADA.

The department sent the letter to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on February 2, providing the court system with written notice of the facts for the findings and the necessary minimum remedial measures. These measures include adopting or revising policies to explicitly state that no court will discriminate against individuals because they have OUD; identifying an ADA coordinator to monitor for investigation and resolution of ADA complaints; training all court staff about OUD; paying compensatory damages to aggrieved individuals; and providing the government with written status reports on all steps taken to comply with these requirements.

Assistant Attorney General Kirsten Clarke of the DOJ Civil Rights Division stated: “Individuals with Opioid Use Disorder are protected by the ADA but too often face discrimination rooted in stereotypes and myths rather than in science. This is exactly the sort of discrimination the ADA was designed to prevent.”

The landscape of opioids and litigation in the US continues to change. This year, the US Supreme Court agreed to hear a case regarding a doctor’s liability for prescribing opioids, and drug manufacturers and distributors paid large settlements and faced liability for their contributions to the opioid crisis.