The content of this blog post is part of the USC-Brookings Institute Schaeffer initiative for Health Policy, a partnership between Economic Studies at Brookings and the University of Southern California Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics. Researchers concluded that effects of the opioid epidemic in the United States have been far-reaching, not just in terms of health impacts, but also as far as implications for the U.S. economy....
The purpose of this report was to assess immediate and sustained changes in overall illicit substance ingestion rates among children younger than six before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and to examine changes by substance type, including amphetamines, benzodiazepines, cannabis, cocaine, ethanol, and, opioids. Researchers concluded that there was a sustained increase in illicit substance ingestion during the pandemic and that additional studies are needed to contextualize these findings in the setting of pandemic-related stress....
The Model Fentanyl/Xylazine Test Strip and Other Drug Checking Equipment Act provides a guide for states to introduce legislation to authorize the use and possession of drug checking equipment....
Drafted in partnership with the O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University, the Model Substance Use Disorder Treatment In Emergency Settings Act establishes and aligns mechanisms for maximizing emergency medical settings as intervention points for people who experience a substance use-related emergency, people with substance use disorders, and their families. It addresses barriers to implementing protocols in emergency medical settings that would ensure evidence-based treatment of patients with substance use-related emergencies....
In the beginning of 2022, the West Virginia Drug Intervention Institute, the West Virginia Collegiate Recovery Network, and Marshall University, a public research university in Huntington, West Virginia, launched an overdose prevention initiative on every public and private college campus in West Virginia. The program, entitled, “Be The One” focuses on opioid overdose prevention from a bystander’s perspective, encouraging students, staff, and faculty to “be the one” to save a life....
Millions of people throughout the world use social media platforms (or “apps”) that provide an easy avenue to reach a large number of people. Legitimate businesses are not the only ones to use social media apps as a marketing tool. In recent years, drug dealers have turned to such apps to solicit buyers and arrange sales. This fact sheet examines the growing use of social media, by drug suppliers, to surreptitiously advertise to a wide audience, by using apps that offer encrypted or disappearing messages....
This document provides jail and prison administrators, program managers, medical staff in correctional settings, and reentry staff with a performance management framework to monitor medication-assisted treatment (MAT) in correctional settings....
In October 2022, Wisconsin’s Department of Health Services (DHS), in conjunction with the state’s department of justice (DOJ) and the Office of Governor Tony Ever announced the launch of the Real Talks campaign to help address the rise in substance use in the state. In recent years, much like the rest of the country, Wisconsin has seen a sizable increase in opioid-related deaths. In fact, between 2018 and 2020, the number of opioid-related deaths increased by 46.7 percent. In addition, alcohol misuse continues to be a problem. Data from DHS indicates that adults in the state rank third in the United States for alcohol use. Real Talks Wisconsin is part of a series of DHS programs aimed at preventing and reducing substance use or abuse within the state. Real Talks discusses community prevention programs and encourages harm reduction programs, such as free access to emergency opioid antagonists....
Withdrawal syndrome occurs in individuals who have developed physiological dependence on a substance and who discontinue or reduce their use of that substance. Individuals who use drugs or alcohol prior to incarceration may experience the onset of withdrawal syndrome while in a correctional setting, leading to illness or death. This fact sheet provides an overview on the management of withdrawal symptoms of individuals in the corrections system....
This guidance document analyzes the extent to which the use of ODMAP implicates the protections for health information contained in the Privacy Rule of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)....