Trainings and Resources

Jails and prisons are critical intervention points in addressing the nation’s overdose crisis. Many systems, including correctional facilities, are beginning to recognize that access to evidence-based treatment and medication for substance use disorder saves lives and must form a fundamental component of any effective program. This Virtual Event Series will highlight best practices, challenges and opportunities in implementing medication-based treatment in correctional facilities over four sessions.

With facts and figures about health status, behavioral risk factors, mortality, and access to care, the resource aims to inform rural health policy for four states – Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas – along the U.S. southern border.  The chartbook is a collaboration between the FORHP-supported Rural & Minority Health Research Center and the National Rural Health Association.

This TIP reviews three Food and Drug Administration-approved medications for opioid use disorder treatment—methadone, naltrexone, and buprenorphine—and the other strategies and services needed to support people in recovery.

This is the first national examination of treatment outcomes prioritized by people with substance use disorders. The findings show individuals most care about survival, improving their quality of life and mental health, reducing harmful substance use, meeting their basic needs, increasing their self-confidence, and increasing their connection to ongoing services and supports. These broad expectations provide direction for reshaping research, services and policies to more effectively address the national epidemic of substance use disorders. Priority outcomes also differ across race and gender demographics, emphasizing the need for individually tailored, culturally and linguistically effective treatment and services, and the need to acknowledge and address structural inequities

The ASAM National Practice Guideline 2020 focused update is intended to inform and empower clinicians, health system administrators, criminal justice system administrators, and policymakers who are interested in implementing evidence-based practices to improve outcomes for individuals with OUD. This is especially critical in the context of the ongoing COVID-19 emergency, which threatens to curtail patient access to evidence-based treatment. 

The White House released a plan for the pandemic that includes a campaign for vaccination, setting standards for controlling the spread of the virus, and enacting the Defense Production Act to extend emergency relief.

A new report from researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health offers recommendations aimed at federal, state, and local policymakers to address the opioid epidemic during the pandemic, which has seen sharp increases in fatal and nonfatal overdoses. The recommendations detail policy solutions in the areas of data and surveillance, harm reduction, and treatment, with special considerations for vulnerable populations.

The Addiction and Public Policy Initiative collaborated with the Legislative Analysis and Public Policy Association (LAPPA) to write model legislation for access to medication-based treatment for opioid use disorder in correctional settings. Implementing medication-based treatment in jails and prisons is crucial to increasing positive outcomes for incarcerated individuals with substance use disorders.

State policymakers are interested in learning about the most effective treatments to address OUD and avoid unintended consequences such as overdose events, mortality from overdose, and use of illicit and unregulated drugs. This article describes the lack of evidence surrounding the use of Medically Supervised Withdrawal as a standalone “treatment.”

More correctional institutions across the country have begun to implement MOUD programs in their facilities. However, barriers to passing additional legislation remain. Madelyn O’Kelley-Bangsberg authored two columns for the O’Neill Institute’s expert column, highlighting the barriers to legislation for MOUD in corrections and taking a closer look at state legislation.