Public Safety

January 13, 2021 | Controlled Substances, Fact Sheets, Pharmacy, Public Health, Public Safety, Substance Misuse

While no set definition for polypharmacy exists, it is generally defined as the concurrent use of several prescribed medicines. Medical studies vary in how many simultaneous prescriptions qualify as polypharmacy, but many researchers set the threshold at five or more different prescription medications per day. In some cases, polypharmacy can lead to duplicate prescriptions or contraindicated prescribed drug combinations which may result from poor communication between an individual’s health care provider(s) and pharmacy or the patient’s own lack of understanding and knowledge. As people age, they have an increased chance of developing chronic conditions and comorbidities. Not surprisingly, elderly  individuals in the United States are the likeliest cohort of adults to take multiple medications daily to treat or manage one or more medical conditions; this is referred to as “polypharmacy.” Research suggests that over half of elderly individuals report taking four or more prescription drugs, compared to only about one-third of adults aged 50-64, and one-in-ten of adults aged 18-49. This fact sheet provides information about Polypharmacy, which can have many serious adverse effects, particularly in the elderly population....

November 18, 2020 | Fact Sheets, Public Health, Public Safety, Recovery, Substance Misuse

The first recovery high schools were intended to provide post-treatment services immediately after an adolescent left a residential treatment or outpatient program and continue to evolve. In addition to providing students with an education, recovery high schools’ intense post-treatment services often include: (1) help with focusing on relapse prevention; (2) encouraging compliance with a wide range of social services to provide additional support; (3) teaching problem-solving skills so that students can learn to cope with anger, depression, and anxiety; and (4) providing a non-using social network. Recovery high schools, designed specifically for students recovering from a substance use disorder, also provide ancillary programs to encourage familial involvement in the teen’s recovery. ...

August 27, 2020 | Controlled Substances, Innovative Initiatives, Public Health, Public Safety, Recovery, Substance Misuse

The CAHOOTS (Crisis Assistance Helping Out on the Streets) mobile crisis intervention program responds to non-police emergencies in the cities of Eugene and Springfield, Oregon. CAHOOTS teams are staffed by a medic and a mental health crisis worker, and receive over 500 hours of training, which includes education on de-escalation and crisis intervention. ...

August 26, 2020 | Controlled Substances, Criminal Justice, Law Enforcement, Opioids, Prescription Drugs, Public Safety, Reports & Studies, Substance Misuse

The Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics recently released statistical briefs on selected policies and procedures of local police departments and sheriffs’ offices, based on data from BJS’s 2016 Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics survey. The tables show national estimates and distributions by population served on topics such as average hours of officer training by type of training, written community-policing plans, annual operating budgets, written directives for officer conduct, written documentation for officers’ display or discharge of firearms, authorized less-lethal techniques and restraints, and requirements for external investigations of deaths or use of force....

July 15, 2020 | Fact Sheets, Public Health, Public Safety, Recovery, Substance Misuse

With hard to reach populations, one of the most effective engagement strategies is through community outreach. By meeting individuals where they are, community outreach programs can gain their trust and that of the community and provide people with health care, social services, and harm reduction assistance. One popular method of community outreach is through mobile outreach vehicles (MOVs) which usually consist of large vans, trailers, or campers that are customized to provide health care and harm reduction services in targeted communities. A large benefit over brick and mortar clinics is the fact that MOVs are ambulatory and can travel to those who most need services. Additionally, one MOV can service multiple neighborhoods and can travel to targeted areas in the community as drug use patterns emerge. This fact sheet provides information about mobile outreach vans and the services that they provide to at-risk communities....

May 19, 2020 | Controlled Substances, Fact Sheets, Law Enforcement, Opioids, Public Safety, Substance Misuse

High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) is a federal program administered by the Office of National Drug Control Policy, Executive Office of the President, that provides resources to federal, state, local, and tribal agencies to coordinate activities addressing drug trafficking in more than 30 areas of the country. The Washington / Baltimore HIDTA developed ODMAP in the fall of 2016 and launched it as a pilot program in West Virginia and Maryland in January 2017. ODMAP is a mapping application tied to a database containing overdose incident information. W/B HIDTA provides no cost access to ODMAP to federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement, other licensed first responders, criminal justice personnel, emergency room and hospital personnel, and other public health entities serving the interests of public safety and public health. The primary purposes of ODMAP include: (1) to provide near real-time surveillance of known or suspected overdose incidents across the United States and its territories; and (2) to support public safety and public health efforts to collaborate and mobilize immediate responses to a sudden increase or spike in overdose incidents. This fact sheet provides basic information about ODMAP. ...