This editorial highlights the consequences of a lack of real time data on drug overdose deaths. The authors discuss how with access to reliable and timely data, healthcare policymakers can implement strategies that identify and target specific at risk populations. 

This is a presentation by several collaborating organizations that describes the community response to the opioid crisis addressing upstream, midstream, and downstream interventions, such as cautious opioid prescribing, medications for opioid use disorder, and overdose prevention, respectively. 

This is a summary of findings from a report on the value of collective efficacy and social cohesion in neighborhoods to increase social action and decrease crime.  Policy recommendations are made to increase these neighborhood constructs. The entire report can be found here. 

This is an academic paper that provides an overview of the neurobiology and neuroscience of opioid use disorder (OUD), with diagrams showing the parts of the brain affected and the science underlying the high risk of recurrence of OUD symptoms. 

This is an academic paper that evaluations an intervention to reduce unused prescription opioids by buying them back in a VA hospital. A small financial incentive ($5 per pill/$50 max) resulted in 30% of eligible patients returning unused prescription opioids. 

This is an academic paper that examines polysubstance use disorders, the need for treatment systems to account for their high prevalence, and the high risks of developing more than one substance use disorder. For example, the increased risk of developing heroin dependence is twofold for alcohol misusers, threefold for cannabis users, 15-fold for cocaine users, and 40-fold for prescription misusers. Behavioral and neural circuitry in the context of co-use of substance is explored. 

This is a report from SAMHSA that highlights 10 collaborative faith-based partnerships and outlines the steps taken by these teams in establishing a foundation for sustained strategic partnerships among community and interfaith leaders to support prevention, treatment, and recovery needs in their communities.

This is an academic paper that provides an overview of the trajectory of the opioid crisis through the lens of a structural and social determinants of health framework. Having an understanding of the root causes of the opioid crisis, such as upstream structural factors, can inform comprehensive interventions to a complex public health emergency. 

This website gives access to a report that provides an international comparison of opioid prescribing and opioid-related deaths, highlighting the opioid crisis in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. 

This employer toolkit, developed by the Minnesota Department of Health and the Minnesota Business Partnership, uses a five-step approach to prevent and address opioid use disorder and other substance use disorders within the workplace. The toolkit can be customized to fit an employer's needs. 

This is a website from UMass Lowell that provides free trainings and tools for construction workers, an industry disproportionately affected by the opioid crisis, in an effort to decrease prescription opioid misuse and opioid use disorder among this population. Although targeting a specific type of construction worker, these resources will likely serve as valuable to other industries. 

This is a presentation by Dr. Sharon Levy of Boston Children’s Hospital that gives an overview of the impact of opioid misuse on adolescents, including an emphasis on youth brain development and the risk factors that lead to opioid misuse.