Public Safety

June 4, 2025 | Data Collection, Health Data, Law Enforcement, Opioids, Public Health, Public Safety, Reports & Studies, Substance Use Disorder

Beginning in 2020, the Legislative Analysis and Public Policy Association (LAPPA) undertook an ongoing research project to identify both currently-in-force statutes and recently proposed legislation related to overdose fatality review (OFR), throughout all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories, titled “Overdose Fatality Review Boards: State Laws” (previously updated February 2021). This document represents the latest iteration of that project, with information updated through December 2023. As of that date, 18 states have laws authorizing the establishment of state-level and/or locality-level OFRs....

May 7, 2025 | Controlled Substances, Criminal Justice, Data Collection, Law Enforcement, Legal & Legislative Research, Opioids, Public Health, Public Safety, Substance Misuse, Substance Use Disorder, Trafficking

The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) is an agency of the Executive Office of the President and is charged with leading and coordinating “the nation’s drug policy so that it improves the health and lives of the American people." This document provides statutory, regulatory. and legislative information about the nineteen states that have followed ONDCP’s example and created either a state-level office of drug control policy or an advisory commission separate from the state agency charged with oversight of controlled substances that is dedicated to addressing alcohol and drug abuse issues in the state....

April 16, 2025 | Controlled Substances, Fact Sheets, Prescription Drugs, Public Safety, Substance Misuse

Drug diversion is defined as any criminal act or deviation that removes a prescription drug from its intended path from the manufacturer to the patient, and while the act of diversion can occur in a variety of settings and be committed by anyone, it is particularly likely to occur in healthcare settings by healthcare workers due to the ease in which they can access prescription drugs. Drug diversion in health care is a serious issue that can result in patient harm, financial loss to the healthcare entity, and civil and criminal litigation based on the perpetrator’s actions....

April 9, 2025 | Controlled Substances, Harm Reduction, Law Enforcement, Legal & Legislative Research, Opioids, Public Health, Public Safety, Sharps/Syringes, Substance Misuse

Syringe services programs (SSP) are harm reduction programs that provide a wide range of services including, but not typically limited to, the provision of new, unused hypodermic needles and syringes and other injection drug use supplies, such as cookers, tourniquets, alcohol wipes, and sharps waste disposal containers, to people who inject drugs. In this summary, readers will find information with respect to SSPs for each state, including citations to applicable statutes and/or regulations, whether the state allows SSPs by statute, whether there are any municipal or county ordinances or regulations in place within the state, program components, miscellaneous provisions, and information on any pending legislation....

April 7, 2025 | Controlled Substances, Fentanyl, Legal & Legislative Research, Public Health, Public Safety, Substance Misuse, Synthetic Drugs

In this survey, the Legislative Analysis and Public Policy Association (LAPPA) examines the legislative and regulatory response at the state level to the issue of fentanyl cleanup. As at the federal level, there is little policy in this area, and the only exceptions to that rule are very recent. Findings are presented jurisdiction by jurisdiction for easy comparison among the states, and include pending legislation....

March 16, 2025 | Controlled Substances, Drug Courts, Fact Sheets, Harm Reduction, Peer Support and Recoery Services, Public Health, Public Safety, Recovery, Treatments

In 2014, several U.S. cities and counties filed lawsuits against drug manufacturers and distributors alleging that the companies’ aggressive marketing practices fueled a national opioid addiction epidemic that subsequently killed hundreds of thousands of people. Since then, over 3,000 state and local governments filed lawsuits of their own, seeking to recoup the billions of dollars that these entities spent—and continue to spend—on the fallout from the epidemic. The result of these legal efforts is a series of ongoing monetary settlements, greater than $56 billion to date. Payment of these settlements will last 18 years, and the decision-making authority for spending these funds differs between jurisdictions. Many have an appointed advisory board that disburses specified amounts each year for specified purposes. In this fact sheet, LAPPA details how opioid settlement proceeds are being disbursed to state and local governments, how those governments are choosing to spend those funds, and the obstacles that can prevent these funds from helping those who have been affected by the opioid epidemic....

March 5, 2025 | Controlled Substances, Fact Sheets, Fentanyl, Harm Reduction, Public Safety, Synthetic Drugs

In mid 2024, community-based drug checking programs discovered the industrial chemical bis (2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-4-piperidyl) sebacate (BTMPS) in the illicit opioid supply in Portland, Oregon and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The substance appears as a white powder, and on industrial chemical websites, it is often referred to by its brand name, Tinuvin® 770. Used, among other things, as a protective coating on plastics to provide protection against ultraviolet rays, BTMPS belongs to a class of molecules called hindered amine light stabilizers. It is not approved for use in humans or animals, and it is not a scheduled or regulated substance in the U.S. This fact sheet provides an overview of the sudden increase in the presence of BTMPS in the illicit drug supply and its rapid proliferation across the country, which has left drug policy experts and harm reduction specialists puzzled as to why it is in the supply and how it will affect the individuals consuming it....

January 30, 2025 | Controlled Substances, First Responders, Legal & Legislative Research, Naloxone, Opioid Antagonists, Opioid Antagonists, Opioids, Overdose Reversal Agent, Public Health, Public Safety, Substance Misuse

In an effort to save lives, states have implemented laws to make it easier for first responders and the general public to obtain overdose reversal agents, such as naloxone. Additionally, to encourage people to assist an individual who is or may be suffering an overdose, the majority of states also enacted laws which protect laypeople who administer overdose reversal agents, in good faith, in an emergency from civil and/or criminal liability. The Legislative Analysis and Public Policy Association (LAPPA) undertook an extensive research project to determine the current status of overdose reversal agent access laws throughout the United States, including the District of Columbia and all U.S. territories. As of January 2025, all 50 states and the District of Columbia have some form of an overdose reversal agent access law....

April 11, 2024 | Controlled Substances, Criminal Justice, Harm Reduction, Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT), Naloxone, Opioid Antagonists, Opioids, Prescription Drugs, Public Health, Public Safety, Recovery, Reports & Studies, Substance Misuse, Treatments

The Addiction and Public Policy Initiative at the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law was established in 2018 through a generous grant from Arnold Ventures. Housed at Georgetown Law, the Addiction and Public Policy Initiative works at the intersection of public health and the law to advance a public health approach to substance use disorder and the overdose epidemic through legal and policy strategies that promote evidence-based treatment, harm reduction, and recovery. This reports highlights O'Neill's accomplishments over the last five years....

March 26, 2024 | Controlled Substances, Fact Sheets, Opioids, Prescription Drugs, Public Health, Public Safety

The first U.S. reports of counterfeit pills containing fentanyl emerged in a handful of jurisdictions in 2015 and by October 2019, all U.S. jurisdictions reported them. One reason for the proliferation is the ease with which drug traffickers can enter this market. With only a few thousand dollars, a person can purchase a pill press, pill molds, and dies that mimic trademarked pharmaceuticals and enough illicitly imported fentanyl to generate $5 to $20 million in sellable counterfeit pills. Given the simple manufacturing process and low startup costs, counterfeiting is an attractive area for drug traffickers, albeit one that creates substantial health risks to consumers. Despite this, however, there are relatively few federal or state laws governing access to pill press machines, and those that exist do not provide for substantial oversight or assessment. In this fact sheet, the Legislative Analysis and Public Policy Association reviews: (1) what pill presses are and how people obtain them; (2) why fentanyl is an often-used drug in counterfeit pills and the health concerns this poses; and (3) the limited, currently-in-force, applicable state and federal laws....