This is a toolkit from the National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health that provides access to trainings, webinars, informational materials, a report, and other resources to help rural communities prevent overdoses and overdose deaths. 

This is a working paper from the Maine Rural Health Research Center (authors Gale, Hansen, and Williamson) and is a qualitative study based on interviews with key stakeholders in Indiana, North Carolina, Vermont, and Washington State that explores promising state and community strategies to tackle the opioid crisis in rural communities and identifies rural challenges to the provision of opioid use disorder prevention, treatment, and recovery services. Specific promising program models are highlighted in this document. 

A toolkit from Rural Health Information Hub to help organizations implement, evaluate, and sustain prevention and treatment solutions to address substance use disorders. This resource also highlights existing promising programs and models to replicate. 

This is a website from the Harm Reduction Coalition that gives information on syringe service programs, provides information on how to establish one of these programs with specific focus on implementing the program in rural areas, and has links to helpful resources. 

This is a toolkit from the Rutgers School of Pharmacy that provides educational information on prevention strategies for opioid misuse, opioid use disorder, and opioid overdoses, specifically targeted towards pharmacist and prescribers. There are also supplementary materials that can be used for interventions by a wide array of stakeholders. 

This is a manual entitled “RxStat” that is targeted to municipal and country leaders on how to best address drug use problems in their jurisdictions. It focuses on combining a public health and public safety approach and is derived from experience by the New York City's Department of Health and Human Hygiene.  

A toolkit from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) on opioid overdose prevention. Provides information on opioid use disorder facts, five essential steps for first responders, information for prescribers, safety advice for patients & family members, and recovering from opioid overdose.

This community-based tool consists of a two-day workshop that brings together stakeholders in the criminal justice, behavioral health, and recovery support systems to identify strengths, gaps, and priorities in their communities, and can strengthen the community response to the opioid crisis. 

Sequential Intercept Mapping (SIM) identifies the vital places in the system where best practices should be implemented, thereby increasing a person’s chances of recovery and decreasing recidivism. 

This is a report which outlines the extent and impact that addiction discrimination and stigma have on individuals with substance use disorder. The report includes data collected by the Shatterproof Addiction Stigma Index, a measurement tool designed to specifically measure addiction stigma and attitudes of the public on substance use. 

This is an academic paper that examines the social roots of the opioid crisis, creating a social determinants of health framework to better understand opioid-related harms across the drug-use continuum. Findings suggest that policymakers and public health leaders should develop partnerships with people who use drugs, incorporate harm reduction strategies, and reverse drug criminalization policies. 

This is an academic paper that gives an overview of studies that have examined the association between socioeconomic characteristics and opioid-related overdose deaths. Nearly all reviewed studies found a connection between a socioeconomic variable and overdose, supporting the Deaths of Despair hypothesis. 

This is a toolkit from the Harm Reduction Coalition targeted towards faith-based organizations to give an overview of what harm reduction is, why it fits in with the mission of faith organizations, and how to serve people who use drugs. The toolkit contains many resources and guidance on how to implement harm reduction services.