Once Resistant Court Officials Embrace Drugs to Treat Addiction

LET THEM EAT LIFE –

June 28, 2023 – The relative unavailability in rural areas of medication treatment is certainly a problem. A shortage, Christofferson noted, is not only an issue in itself, but also a barrier to overcoming stigma. More openings available, more success stories. More success stories, less stigma. Fewer provider options also means one bad actor — a provider who overprescribes or is otherwise negligent — perpetuates the stigma. Strict oversight is essential.

Physician Stephen Loyd influenced Slone’s decision to embrace medication treatment and is now a member of Slone’s recovery court team. Loyd was practicing internal medicine in eastern Tennessee when he developed a 100-pill-a-day addiction to prescription opioids. He was the inspiration for the character Michael Keaton portrayed in the Hulu series “Dopesick.” Loyd overcame his addiction and served as the state’s “opioid czar” under Gov. Bill Haslam from 2016 to 2018.

While in state government, Loyd helped plant the seed for TN-ROCS. He told Slone the first judge to take such an initiative would “be on the cover of Time magazine, because your success rates are gonna go up dramatically; you’re gonna save a bunch of lives.”