This is an academic paper that describes community meetings held in a rural area of Oklahoma to address to the opioid crisis. Surveys showed that holding group discussions and listening to experts may increase engagement of the community in a response, with priorities being access to treatment…

This is an academic paper that assessed community readiness in counties in North Carolina and its relationship to county-level opioid-related mortality and morbidity. Community readiness has been linked to collective action from communities to implement comprehensive responses to the public…

This is a report which offers information on how local health departments in New York can improve their responses to the opioid epidemic with a focus on post-overdose response interventions. The report serves as a blueprint for community partnerships aiming to prevent opioid overdose related…

This is a report from the National Prevention Science Coalition that highlights the importance of prevention strategies in addressing the opioid crisis and outlines a national blueprint to guide public health policies and prevention services to help individuals, their families, and communities.…

This is a research report from the Urban Institute that provides a scope of the opioid crisis and its far-reaching impacts. Next, criminal justice responses are discussed and specific programs are highlighted. 

This is an article in Health Affairs that describes the wide-ranging impact of the opioid crisis on Kentuckians, highlights programs and initiatives around the state to address the crisis, and discusses the role of research to inform interventions.  

This guide provides practical, evidenced-based strategies and public health approaches, resources, and program models that first responder agencies, their partners, and communities can use to implement or expand practices and approaches for linking people to substance use services. It describes…

This is an academic paper published in JAMA psychiatry that rigorously reviews the evidence for using contingency management in conjunction with medications for opioid use disorder. The study concluded that this technique is helpful in improving retention on medications and increasing abstinence…

This is a report which takes an in-depth look at the problems courts and citizens alike are facing regarding opioid use disorder. The authors have established a framework for courts to utilize to address the disease of addiction from the judiciary's unique perspective. 

This is a report from the Vera Institute that describes the implementation of a program in the New York prison system to train and equip those reentering society with naloxone. Results suggest that this is an innovative strategy to get naloxone in the hands of a high-risk population. 

This report by the Workers Compensation Research Institute highlights higher rates of opioid dispensing and chronic opioid dispensing among some groups of injured workers in rural counties. Workers employed in mining and construction industries were more likely than workers in other fields to…

This is a report from the New York State Association of Counties that highlights the different programs that have been implemented to address the opioid crisis across counties in New York. Most of the county responses were led through the actions of coalitions and task forces. 

This is an academic paper that examines how the challenges presented by the coronavirus may further marginalize people who use drugs, especially in rural areas. The healthcare system, criminal justice system, housing, and overdose risks are discussed.

This is a report from the National Council for Behavioral Health that conducted an environmental scan consisting of a literature review and key informant interviews to better understand the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on harm reduction services and people who use drugs. It highlights how…

This is a report from the Addiction Policy Forum that surveys over 1,000 people with substance use disorders and their families. More than a third reported service disruption of treatment or recovery support services, 14% were unable to receive needed services, and 20% reported that their/their…

This is a report from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) that provides recommendations on how state agencies can work together to prevent and treat substance use disorder, including engaging with state offices of rural health.

This document offers examples…

This is a report which offers a checklist of methods that health insurers and purchasers can utilize to promote safe and affordable care while also emphasizing opioid safety and lowering opioid related deaths. The four primary areas of focus for this checklist are prevention, management,…

This is a report from the Institute for Excellence in Government (author Wiseman) that presents several case studies that use data-driven approaches to address the opioid crisis. Themes in the cases examined were that collaboration is key, leadership matters, and continuous experimentation is…

A Health and Human Services (HHS) report by RAND that presents findings from a scoping study to assess the types of data sources and data-linkage efforts that are currently being used or could potentially be leveraged to support research and evaluations to combat the opioid crisis. Alternative…

This article discusses how current anti-drug policies around the world have historically targeted marginalized communities. The authors provide suggestions for new drug-related policies that aim to decrease incarceration rates through methods such as the decriminalization of drug-related…