This paper investigates the challenges of addressing opioid use disorder in rural areas and gives five suggestions on how rural states and communities can use evidence based approaches to offer better solutions to individuals seeking treatment for opioid use disorder. These suggestions outline ways to connect clinicians with patients, expand access to treatment, and increase inclusivity of special populations. Examples of programs that have been implemented in the state of Maine are provided. 

This is a report from the California Health Care Foundation that explores the four components that California health plans have used to decrease opioid prescribing: engaging providers, working with high-risk members, addressing misuse, and supporting healthy communities.

Several specific health plans in California that significantly reduced opioid prescribing are highlighted within this document.

This report was generated through a legislative mandate by linking multiple data sets in Massachusetts. The aim was to better understand the opioid problem and those at most risk.

The prevalence of opioid use disorder, as well as nonfatal and fatal overdoses, are estimated and at-risk populations are identified. The results of this report are able to inform policy and stimulate research. 

This is a report from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network that explores the relationship between childhood exposure to traumatic events and a variety of substance use-related behaviors as well as the impact of the opioid crisis on children and families. Recommendations related to prevention and treatment are made and resources are provided. 

This study examined the relationship between illicit drug use and 10 categories of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and total number of ACEs (ACE score). The ACE score had a strong graded relationship to the risk of drug initiation from early adolescence into adulthood and to problems with drug use, drug addiction, and parenteral use.

The persistent graded relationship between the ACE score and initiation of drug use for 4 successive birth cohorts dating back to 1900 suggests that the effects of adverse childhood experiences transcend secular changes such as increased availability of drugs, social attitudes toward drugs, and recent massive expenditures and public information campaigns to prevent drug use.

This is an academic paper that interviewed providers to better understand the role that hospitals have played in the opioid crisis. In addition to reported settings where opioids have been overprescribed, the clinicians recommended that hospitals respond to the opioid crisis through patient education, provider education, and strengthening the hospital leadership efforts to decrease inappropriate opioid use.

A two-page resource from the CMS with opioid oral morphine milligram equivalent (MME) conversion factors for a wide range of prescription opioids.

This report details recommendations for the US government on how to optimize mandatory and discretionary spending on opioid related population health outcomes. The author's recommendations fall under the four categories of mandatory spending, discretionary spending, data and metrics, and governance. 

This report outlines the impact of synthetic opioid trafficking from the individual and economic perspective. The authors provide several suggestions on next steps the U.S government can take as well as relevant data to support these points. The five main pillars of this outline are policy coordination and implementation, supply reduction, demand reduction through public health methods, international cooperation, as well as research and monitoring. 

This report from the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) presents the study results of interviews and focus groups to explore how the opioid crisis is uniquely affecting diverse Appalachian communities, and to identify effective content and messaging strategies that Appalachian community-based organizations can use to support opioid misuse prevention, treatment, and recovery

After describing the key findings of the impact of the opioid crisis on Appalachian communities and attitudes towards people with opioid use disorder (OUD), the report provides specific communication strategies that communities can use to educate the general public, reduce stigma, and prevent opioid misuse and OUD. 

This is an academic paper that gives an overview of the HEALing Communities Study to address the opioid crisis, with a focus on how this multistate, community-engaged research project used community coalitions to tailor evidence-based practices to meet the unique needs of the communities involved in the study. 

This guide from SAMHSA highlights research on community engagement in substance use prevention and provides practical guidance for implementing and evaluating community engagement strategies and activities. It provides an overview of how community engagement can play a pivotal role in the uptake of evidence-base prevention broadly across the substance use prevention system