This is an academic paper that highlights that, even though the majority of those who are incarcerated have substance use disorders, there is little opportunity for treatment while incarcerated. As a solution to addiction, mass incarceration has only led to a larger population at higher risk during the coronavirus pandemic. Recommendations are made for criminal justice reform.  

The Homeless Health Care Los Angeles Center for Harm Reduction (HHCLA-HRC) provides harm reduction and treatment services to marginalized populations. They have adapted to COVID-19 with two innovative models, the "telephone booth" model and the "coordinated pharmacy" model, with preliminary results showing that they are maintaining patient enrollment and engagement of medications for opioid use disorder. 

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 family member's substance use has increased during the coronavirus pandemic. 

This is an academic paper that presents the results of a survey to those with substance use disorder, along with those in remission, and their families on the impact of COVID-19. Those with a history of using multiple substances reported greatest disruption in services, suggesting that polysubstance users may be at greater risk during the coronavirus pandemic. 

The Partnership for Drug-Free Kids hosts a web page listing many online addiction resources for families and individuals during the coronavirus pandemic.

A searchable database from the National Institute of Justice that provides descriptions of hundreds of innovate criminal justice programs, including level of evidence. 

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 from eight states and emphasizes state efforts related to opioid misuse and opioid use disorder.

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, treatment, and mortality prevention. 

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 required as the opioid crisis continues to evolve. 

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 pain management, overdose prevention, and prevention/treatment/recovery strategies are addressed. Secondary data sources are also discussed that are relevant to opioid research. 

This is an academic paper that provides commentary on the initiative in Burlington, Vermont to decriminalize the possession of buprenorphine, written by a state attorney and the chief of police, and the plan to initiate the same legal approach in Philadelphia. Burlington had a 50% decrease in overdose deaths from 2017 to 2018, which appears to have been sustained in 2019, partly attributable to this initiative as part of a multi-pronged approach.

This initiative shows promise in reducing stigma, expanding access to a life-saving medication, and no longer criminalizing a person struggling with opioid use disorder who possesses an effective means to treat this condition. 

This is an academic paper that summarizes the cascade of care model for opioid use disorder (OUD) and applies it to Rhode Island. The touchpoints for this model include identifying those at risk for OUD, diagnosed with OUD, initiated in OUD treatment, retained in OUD treatment, and in recovery from OUD. This can be a helpful health policy tool to identify systems-level gaps and opportunities.