This is a manual entitled “RxStat” that is targeted to municipal and country leaders on how to best address drug use problems in their jurisdictions. It focuses on combining a public health and public safety approach and is derived from experience by the New York City's Department of Health and Human Hygiene.  

A toolkit from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) on opioid overdose prevention. Provides information on opioid use disorder facts, five essential steps for first responders, information for prescribers, safety advice for patients & family members, and recovering from opioid overdose.

This community-based tool consists of a two-day workshop that brings together stakeholders in the criminal justice, behavioral health, and recovery support systems to identify strengths, gaps, and priorities in their communities, and can strengthen the community response to the opioid crisis. 

Sequential Intercept Mapping (SIM) identifies the vital places in the system where best practices should be implemented, thereby increasing a person’s chances of recovery and decreasing recidivism. 

This is a report which outlines the extent and impact that addiction discrimination and stigma have on individuals with substance use disorder. The report includes data collected by the Shatterproof Addiction Stigma Index, a measurement tool designed to specifically measure addiction stigma and attitudes of the public on substance use. 

This is an academic paper that examines the social roots of the opioid crisis, creating a social determinants of health framework to better understand opioid-related harms across the drug-use continuum. Findings suggest that policymakers and public health leaders should develop partnerships with people who use drugs, incorporate harm reduction strategies, and reverse drug criminalization policies. 

This is an academic paper that gives an overview of studies that have examined the association between socioeconomic characteristics and opioid-related overdose deaths. Nearly all reviewed studies found a connection between a socioeconomic variable and overdose, supporting the Deaths of Despair hypothesis. 

This is a toolkit from the Harm Reduction Coalition targeted towards faith-based organizations to give an overview of what harm reduction is, why it fits in with the mission of faith organizations, and how to serve people who use drugs. The toolkit contains many resources and guidance on how to implement harm reduction services. 

This is a report from the Mental Health Commission of Canada that summarizes an 18-month project on opioid use disorder (OUD) stigma and gives a scoping literature review as well as the results of key informant interviews and focus groups involving first responders, persons with lived experience of substance and/or opioid use, policymakers, and other service providers. 

This study develops a typology of the stigma related to opioid use, showing how multiple dimensions of stigma continue to fundamentally hinder the response to the crisis.

The paper explains how public stigma is driven by stereotypes about people with opioid use disorders, such as their perceived dangerousness or perceived moral failings, which translate into negative attitudes toward people with opioid use disorders. Additionally, it explains that enacted stigma describes the behavioral manifestations of public stigma, including discrimination and social distancing. Finally, the study emphasizes that public and enacted stigma, in turn, lead to the delivery of suboptimal care and undermine access to treatment and harm reduction services.

This in an annual summit sponsored by National Academy of Medicine and Shatterproof that brings together stakeholders to discuss the negative impact of stigma on people with substance use disorders and elevate action-oriented strategies to address and eliminate the harms caused by stigma. More information from the 2021 summit can be found here and the 2022 summit can be found here. 

This is an academic paper that provides a commentary on the role that stigma plays in substance use disorder, how it manifests, and the evidence base for combating it. 

This report, put together by the Toronto Drug Strategy, presents the results of focus groups for people who use alcohol and other drugs and their experiences of stigma and discrimination. Additionally, recommendations for action are made for the development of strategies to address stigma and discrimination toward this population.