RAND-USC Schaeffer OPTIC

Both policymakers and the public are paying increasing attention to the opioid and polysubstance crisis, underscoring the urgent need for thoughtful investments and more effective, accessible behavioral health care for all Americans. Work being done by OPTIC researchers is getting noticed and becoming a more integral part of conversations happening in Washington DC, individual states, and living rooms, as noted by the following recent events.

• A broadcast of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver on May 16th, examined how state and local governments across the United States are spending their opioid settlement money and briefly included references to OPTIC research. To learn more, visit our page on Strategies for Effectively Allocating Opioid Settlement Funds and the related publication Evidence-Based Strategies for Abatement of Harms from the Opioid Epidemic.
• OPTIC was mentioned in the White House announcement, “White House Shares Government, Private Sector, Academic, and Non-Profit Actions to Accelerate Progress on Mental Health Research.”
• OPTIC investigator Brendon Saloner testified to the Senate Finance Committee, “Closing Gaps in the Care Continuum: Opportunities to Improve Substance Use Disorder Care in the Federal Health Programs,” and Brendon also published a viewpoint in JAMA: “The Overdose Crisis in the 2024 Election—Political Fights and Practical Problems.”
• OPTIC Co-Director Rosalie Liccardo Pacula was just on a panel at the recent Cannabis State Regulators Association (CANNRA) annual meeting discussing data an methodological issues underlying the science informing policy analysis featuring insights from OPTIC’s 2023 Pragmatic Guide for State Policymakers.
• As always, we welcome your comments and suggestions at OPTIC@rand.org.
  

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Only One-Third of Outpatient Mental Health Facilities Offer Medication Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder

RAND Corporation

Telehealth Is Common at Mental Health Clinics, but Differences Occur Based on Geography and Services Offered

RAND Corporation

Making Sense of Policy Evaluations for State Policymakers

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Conceptual Confusion Leads Policy Evaluation Astray

JAMA Health Forum

Drugs and Addiction Science: NIDA Celebrates 50 Years of Research and Looks to the Future. Volkow, Amer J Psychiatry. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38706329/

Overdose, Behavioral Health Services, and Medications for Opioid Use Disorder After a Nonfatal Overdose. Jones et al., JAMA Intern Med. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38884975/

Estimated Number of Children Who Lost a Parent to Drug Overdose in the US From 2011 to 2021. Jones et al., JAMA Psychiatry. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38717781/

A Content Analysis of Legal Policy Responses to Xylazine in the Illicit Drug Supply in the United States. Sugarman et al., Int J Drug Policy. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38852335/

Breaking Free From the "War on Drugs": Examples From Three Leader States. Davis and Lieberman., J Law Med Ethics. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38995244/

Comparing harm reduction and overdose response services between community-based and public health department syringe service programmes using a national cross-sectional survey. Ray et al., Lancet Reg Health Am. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38745887/

Updates on syringe coverage and service uptake among needle and syringe programs in the United States, 2019-2020. Tookes et al., Int J Drug Policy. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38071932/

Use of Medications for Opioid Use Disorder and Child Welfare Outcomes. Muhar et al., JAMA Health Forum. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38995635/

Pregnancy and Postpartum Drug Overdose Deaths in the US Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Han et al., JAMA Psychiatry. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37991773/

Punitive Legal Responses to Prenatal Drug Use in the United States: A Survey of State Policies and Systematic Review of their Public Health Impacts. Bruzelius et al., International Journal of Drug Policy. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38484529/

Trends in the Prescribing of Buprenorphine for Opioid Use Disorder, 2019-2023. Savitz et al., Mayo Clin Proc Innov Qual Outcomes. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38841599/

Multiple OPTIC researchers and OPTIC Board Members will be presenting at pre-conference workshops, plenary, symposium sessions, and individual presentations at Addiction Health Services Research Conference, October 2024.

Of note: Sean Grant and Rosanna Smart – leading a pre-conference workshop “Methodological Guidance for Conducting Expert Panels with the Delphi Method” October 16, 2024 at Addiction Health Services Research Conference.