What do other advocates say?
Jordan Scott of the Pennsylvania Harm Reduction Network said the settlement’s emphasis on how these changes will be implemented gives her peace of mind that “this is actually going to help make things better” and it won’t be just “another piece of paper.”
Sara Rose, deputy legal director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania, also pointed to the details of the settlement, saying she hopes the training requirements will reduce bias against people who use opioid use disorder medications.
An Allegheny County physician and president-elect of the Pennsylvania Society of Addiction Medicine, James Latronica welcomed the settlement. But he also said $100,000 seemed low, given the harm that can occur to people forced off their prescribed medications for opioid use disorder.
“It’s extremely disruptive to someone’s life,” Latronica said. “… The way that we treat substance use in general with a punishment-first mentality is completely foreign to every other area of medicine.”
Why did the DOJ bring the case?
Nationwide, people wanting to access federally approved medications for opioid use disorder face a number of obstacles, including when they are under court supervision or incarcerated.
The Department of Justice says it has taken other actions to prevent discrimination, including for people under court supervision in Massachusetts and people incarcerated at Allegheny County Jail.
But people can face other restrictions on these medications. Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry announced last September that her office secured commitments from companies operating dozens of nursing homes in the state to not discriminate against people with opioid use disorder.
That initiative began with a complaint from a man who was prescribed medication for the disorder and was turned away from multiple nursing home facilities, according to Henry’s office.
What happens next for Pa. courts?
The settlement gives 60 days for statewide court administrators to recommend and encourage all judicial districts to adopt the anti-discrimination policy that’s included as part of the agreement. Within six months, those administrators must report back on the steps they took and which counties agreed to adopt the policy.
The Blair, Jefferson, and Northumberland County court systems have 90 days to adopt the policy and distribute it to treatment court team members and individuals under court supervision.
Settlement documents didn’t clarify why the fourth county court system named as a defendant, Lackawanna, is not required to implement the policy.
A spokesperson for the Justice Department declined to clarify when asked why by Spotlight PA. Witalec told Spotlight PA that Lackawanna County maintained throughout the litigation that its policies complied with the Americans with Disabilities Act, and said the county will consider “whether to voluntarily adopt the suggested policy terms to the extent they differ from what is already in place.”
Among other provisions, the policy for substance use disorder medications says, “No judge, unit, or member of this judicial district will interfere with a licensed prescriber’s decisions about an individual’s appropriate medication and treatment regimen.”
The policy says it’s not intended to interfere with “appropriate exercises of judicial discretion in individual cases,” and suggests that if judges are concerned about an individual’s use or misuse of medication, in many cases, the appropriate action will be for a probation officer or representative of the court system to communicate with the prescriber.
Statewide court administrators must also provide reports to the DOJ describing their training efforts and complaints related to opioid use disorder medication.
The agreement remains in effect for two years.
How is Mosey doing now?
“My life is great,” she told Spotlight PA.
She is studying to receive a bachelor’s degree in behavioral sciences, and she’s working with at-risk youth.
“I’ve taken my experiences and my mistakes in life, and I’m trying to help young people not do the same thing,” Mosey said. “I work a lot, but it’s very rewarding.”
The settlement includes $100,000 in total compensation for the people allegedly harmed, and Mosey told Spotlight PA she expects to receive $10,000. But that money isn’t why she stuck with the case and continued advocating for the issue.
“I just wanted there to be some change,” she said. “I wanted there to be something to make it so that other people in my situation and other people dealing with addiction didn’t have to go through what I had to go through.”