Substance Misuse

January 6, 2025 | Controlled Substances, Insurance, Model Laws, Public Health, Recovery, Substance Misuse, Treatments

The Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Parity Act aims to empower effective enforcement of mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) parity standards at the state level. This model legislation requires: (1) health benefit plans to provide mental health and SUD benefits on terms no more restrictive than those for medical/surgical benefits; and (2) health insurers to demonstrate compliance with the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act for all state-regulated health benefit plans subject to the parameters of this legislation. The overarching purpose of this Act is to save lives and improve health and quality of life by expanding access to mental health and SUD treatment....

December 3, 2024 | Controlled Substances, Model Laws, Peer Support and Recoery Services, Public Health, Recovery, Substance Misuse, Workforce Development

Drafted in collaboration with the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at the Georgetown University Law Center, the purpose of the Model Building the Substance Use Disorder Workforce of the Future Act is to address the current and projected shortage of professions for the substance use disorder workforce, including psychiatrists, psychologists, physicians who are certified in addiction medicine, addiction counselors, social workers, nursing professionals, peer support professionals, and others. This legislation guides states in adopting a strategy that supports and advances immediate, intermediate, and long-term measures to build and sustain an SUD workforce....

November 19, 2024 | Innovative Initiatives, K-12 Education, Public Health, Substance Misuse

In the fall of 2022, West Virginia implemented an opioid and substance misuse prevention program named Game Changer in three public high schools. The first of its kind in the nation program uses student peer leadership programs that focus on building school environments that foster and promote healthy living and staying away from using or experimenting with alcohol and drugs....

October 24, 2024 | Emergency Departments, Harm Reduction, Innovative Initiatives, Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT), Public Health, Recovery, Substance Misuse, Treatments

To complement the opioid prescribing guidelines that the University of Buffalo Department of Emergency Medicine established in 2016, Dr. Joshua Lynch developed the Medication for Addiction Treatment and Electronic Referrals (MATTERS) program. He saw the need for MATTERs because the “window of opportunity” to help someone with a substance use disorder is small, and he wanted to immediately link a patient who had overdosed to a treatment program that is right for that individual....

October 17, 2024 | First Responders, Harm Reduction, Model Laws, Naloxone, Opioid Antagonists, Opioid Antagonists, Recovery, Substance Misuse, Treatments

The key elements of the Model Overdose Reversal Agents Act are to: (1) remove all existing restrictions about who can receive, possess, store, transfer without cost, or administer an ORA such that any “person or entity” is eligible; (2) require specified individuals and entities to offer ORAs to individuals at increased risk of overdose; (3) require emergency access to ORAs at specified locations for use by any individual; (4) provide guidelines for ORA sales, in particular sales of non-prescription ORAs; (6) grant broad immunity to people or entities for prescribing, dispensing, giving, donating, transferring without charge, selling, or administering ORAs in the absence of gross negligence, malice, or criminal intent; (7) identify the required content for educational information about ORAs and specify when that information must be disseminated; (8) require Medicaid and other health insurance coverage for ORAs, including non-prescription ORAs, and prohibit discriminatory life and health insurance practices; and (9) create a bulk overdose reversal agent purchasing fund to assist persons and entities to fulfill requirements under the Act....

October 7, 2024 | Controlled Substances, Fact Sheets, Fentanyl, Novel Psychoactive Substances, Opioids, Substance Misuse

“Tusi” is the name given to a new synthetic drug combination that first emerged in the 2010s in Latin America and Europe and is becoming increasingly popular in the United States. The name is a play on “2C,” a group of psychedelic drugs common among clubgoers, which tusi is rarely found to contain. Also called “pink cocaine,” though it usually does not contain cocaine, it is a powder that is dyed with pink food coloring that smells of strawberries. It is typically snorted, pressed into pill form, or mixed with water (called “happy water”). Because tusi is new on the drug scene, not much is currently known about the effects of the drug on those who use it. People who use drugs should be aware of the dangers of using tusi due to confusion regarding the names by which it is known as well as the different drugs used to make it and should use harm reduction practices to prevent adverse effects from its use....

October 2, 2024 | Harm Reduction, Innovative Initiatives, Naloxone, Opioid Antagonists, Opioid Antagonists, Recovery, Substance Misuse

In 2018, the city of Chicago, IL gained an ally in the fight against fatal overdoses and substance use disorder in the non-profit organization, To Walk in My Shoes. Co-founded by Marnell Brown, a person in long term recovery, To Walk in My Shoes provides resources and support for those in need in the community. In addition to providing individuals with job skills training, including interview practice and how to write a resume, money management skills, and conflict resolution skills, To Walk in My Shoes also works to raise awareness about and provide testing for HIV/AIDS....

July 12, 2024 | Fact Sheets, Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT), Novel Psychoactive Substances, Opioids, Recovery, Substance Misuse, Treatments

Methadone is one of the three medications approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration used for the treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD). Evidence shows that for patients who suffer a nonfatal overdose, subsequent methadone treatment reduces the likelihood of a future fatal opioid overdose by over 50 percent. In 2024, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) issued the first substantive changes to its federal methadone regulations in over 20 years. This final rule updated and modified several aspects of existing regulations with the goal of expanding the use of methadone for OUD treatment. As part of the revisions, SAMHSA clarified that a hospital, long-term care entity, or correctional facility, if appropriately registered with the Drug Enforcement Administration, can provide and initiate methadone as a treatment for OUD to those with a primary diagnosis other than substance withdrawal or OUD. In this fact sheet the Legislative Analysis and Public Policy Association details changes to the definition of "primary diagnosis" other than OUD regulation. The fact sheet also covers the federal regulatory scheme for methadone to treat OUD and explains what led SAMHSA to revise its regulations. ...

June 28, 2024 | Fact Sheets, Novel Psychoactive Substances, Opioids, Stimulants, Substance Misuse, Synthetic Drugs

The Legislative Analysis and Public Policy Association is monitoring the emergence of novel psychoactive substances appearing on the illicit drug market in the United States. The term “novel” does not denote a new, never-before-seen substance but rather a substance that is newly available in the drug market. This fact sheet examines medetomidine, a powerful veterinary sedative that has been appearing as an adulterant in fentanyl mixtures in the U.S. Medetomidine is a synthetic alpha-2 agonist that is used as a sedative in veterinary medicine and sold under the brand name Domitor®. Medetomidine belongs to the same drug class as xylazine, but its potency is 200 times greater, and has a longer duration of action, than xylazine. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has only approved medetomidine for use in veterinary medicine, and information about the use of the substance in humans is limited. The effects of medetomidine on humans are not well understood but include prolonged sedation, slow heart rate, slowed breathing, and low blood pressure. Similar to xylazine, the combination of medetomidine with other substances, like fentanyl, can enhance or prolong the effects of the substance and place the individual at a higher risk of overdose than from the...

June 28, 2024 | Controlled Substances, Fetal and Infant Health, Legal & Legislative Research, Maternal Health, Opioids, Prescription Drugs, Substance Misuse, Treatments

In this document, the Legislative Analysis and Public Policy Association (LAPPA) examines state-level statutes and regulations related to substance use during pregnancy and whether such use during pregnancy is considered child abuse or neglect in the jurisdiction. ...