Dr. Lonnie Lauer was the resident doctor at the Oxford County Jail for 24 years.

PARIS – When he began treating Oxford County Jail inmates two decades ago, only rarely did Dr. Lonnie Lauer run into severe cases of mental illness or acute drug intoxications requiring hospitalization.

All that has changed.

“During the past 24 years we have seen a significant increase in mental disorder and drug addiction in the jail population,” the osteopathic physician said in a March farewell letter to jail administrator Capt. Ernie Martin.

Lauer was presented a plaque at the jail Tuesday by Oxford County Sheriff Skip Herrick, “in appreciation for your leadership and dedication for 24 years” in providing medical services to both jail staff and the inmate population.

In general, Lauer said, there has been a decrease in the number of acute alcohol intoxications where detox was required at Stephens Memorial Hospital in Norway.

“But the number of narcotic and cocaine addicts had risen significantly,” Lauer said, especially in the past decade or so. “Substance abuse has generated many more medical issues” at the jail, he said, increasing both the costs of medicines and the cost of providing medical services.

Martin said on average, around 80 percent of the jail population at any given time has some kind of substance abuse issue. And between 20 to 30 percent are categorized as having a dual diagnosis of both substance abuse and mental illness.

Lauer was never the one who dispensed the meds – that was the job of the guards – but he was in charge of making assessments as to whether those medicines were medically necessary. The state requires physicals for every inmate who stays in jail 14 days or more, and Lauer also regularly came to the jail to assess inmates who had medical requests.

His services are being taken over by Allied Resources for Correctional Health, which serves several county jails in the state and provides nurses on site twice a day, and on call 24/7.

Lauer, who lives in Bridgton, was contracted as the jail doctor in 1979, a year after the jail was built. He works in Lewiston in occupational medicine.

Herrick said it was a simple issue of legal liability that led him to recommend the switch to Allied Resources for Correctional Health.

Three years ago, the county began contracting with Oxford County Mental Health Services of Rumford to treat dually diagnosed inmates by meeting with them weekly.

Martin said when generic drug equivalents are not available, brand name drugs can be very expensive. The county spent more than $6,600 on one inmate with severe psychiatric problems who spent nine months at the jail.

Legislation passed late last year, however, is easing the pressure on medical costs in county jails, Martin said. The new law prevents pharmacies from charging more than the MaineCare rate for drugs and other medically necessary treatment.