This is a report from the National Governors Association which describes syringe service and harm reduction programs implemented in Kentucky in order to curb infectious disease transmission and establish new pathways to substance use disorder treatment and recovery. Key insights from this implementation in Kentucky are highlighted, with a focus on the cross-sector partnerships.
Harm Reduction Resources
- Overdose prevention
- Syringe service program / Needle exchange
- Harm Reduction Specialists
- Policymakers
This is a report by America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) that offers strategies on how health plans can best address the opioid crisis, broken down into each component of the continuum of care: prevention, intervention, treatment, and recovery. It also highlights the successes of several health plans.
- Cautious Opioid Prescribing
- Early Intervention
- Educational
- Medications for Opioid Use Disorder
- Addiction Treatment Providers
- Advocates / Peers
- Community Health Officials
- Health Insurers
- Hospitals
- Medical
- Pharmacies
This is a report from the National League of Cities entitled “Aligning City, County and State Resources to Address the Opioid Epidemic: Lessons Learned and Future Opportunities” which is targeted to municipal governments and other government entities.
This document shares the key findings, emerging priorities, lessons learned, and future strategies for six cities involved in responses to the opioid epidemic.
- Educational
- Community Health Officials
- Policymakers
This is an academic paper by experts in the field that discusses the need for a comprehensive approach to address the opioid crisis. A multidisciplinarian approach should include the contributions of neuroscience, pharmacology, epidemiology, treatment services, and prevention, which are integrated across multiple settings, including healthcare, criminal justice, education, and social service systems.
- Educational
- Addiction Treatment Providers
- Community Coalitions
- Community Health Officials
- Criminal Justice
- Harm Reduction Specialists
- Hospitals
- Law Enforcement
- Medical
- Pharmacies
- Policymakers
In this 600-page report, researchers provide a nuanced assessment of America's opioid ecosystem, highlighting how leveraging system interactions can reduce addiction, overdose, suffering, and other harms. Chapters describe the ten major components of the opioid ecosystem: substance use disorder treatment, harm reduction, medical care, the criminal legal system, illegal supply and supply control, first responders, the child welfare system, income support and homeless services, employment, and education.
- Crisis intervention
- Diversion
- Early Intervention
- Educational
- Family Support
- Housing, Education, and Employment
- Overdose prevention
- Post-overdose response
This is an academic paper that evaluates emerging technologies to test for the presence of fentanyl, including fentanyl test strips, a hand-held Raman Spectrometer, and a desktop Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectrometer. Fentanyl test strips were found to be the most sensitive and specific and were also able to detect minute amounts of fentanyl in the sample.
- Overdose prevention
- Community Coalitions
- Community Health Officials
- Harm Reduction Specialists
- Policymakers
This is a report that summarizes an environmental scan of community-based interventions to prevent opioid overdoses among tribal communities, a population that has been disproportionately affected by the opioid crisis. The document has many helpful links to resources and highlights several tribal nation initiatives.
- Overdose prevention
- Community Coalitions
- Community Health Officials
- Harm Reduction Specialists
- Policymakers
This is a report that provides an update on the Trump Administration's Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis, which includes progress made on the initial 56 recommendations made by the Commission.
- Educational
- Addiction Treatment Providers
- Community Health Officials
- Criminal Justice
- Policymakers
This guide provides practical approaches to prevent addiction-related stigma. These range from simple efforts, such as writing letters to the editor, to more complex efforts, such as implementing community-based stigma prevention campaigns.
- Educational
- Advocates / Peers
- Community Coalitions
- Community Health Officials
- Harm Reduction Specialists
- Medical
- Policymakers
This website provides a report and other resources from the Association of Schools and Programs in Public Health (ASSPH) that makes research-informed recommendations across the entire continuum of care to address the opioid crisis.
- Comprehensive services
- Educational
- Medications for Opioid Use Disorder
- Overdose prevention
- Syringe service program / Needle exchange
- Addiction Treatment Providers
- Community Coalitions
- Community Health Officials
- Harm Reduction Specialists
- Medical
- Policymakers
This academic paper evaluates whether the implementation of postoverdose outreach programs among Massachusetts municipalities was associated with lower opioid fatality rates compared with municipalities without postoverdose outreach programs. Implementation of postoverdose outreach programs in 58 communities was significantly associated with lower opioid fatality rates over time compared with 35 communities that did not implement such programs.
- Post-overdose response
This is a database from ASTHO entitled “Substance Misuse and Addiction Resources” that is interactive and has thousands of resources, many on opioids.