Butler County’s courts, like those across the state, discriminated against those suffering with opiate addictions, the U.S. Department of Justice alleged in a lawsuit Thursday.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in eastern Pennsylvania, claims the Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA, by restricting the use of medical-assisted treatment for people with opioid use disorder.

The Department of Justice’s lawsuit comes roughly three weeks after its civil rights division sent a letter to the Unified Judicial System, or UJS, detailing its investigation as to how the court system treats — or mistreats — those addicted to opiates.

In many counties including Butler, the federal government alleges, courts discriminated against people with opioid use disorder by requiring they cease taking or forbidding the use of medications designed to treat the disorder.

These drugs include methadone; medications derived from buprenorphine, such as the brand Suboxone, and treatments related to naltrexone, commonly sold as the brand Vivitrol.

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