RAND-USC Schaeffer OPTIC

If you haven’t seen it already, the September 2025 Health Affairs special issue, Insights on the Opioid Epidemic (available Open Access), is worth a read. It contains a host of articles on causes of the opioid crisis and effective treatment strategies at the national, state, and community levels.

Multiple contributions from OPTIC staff highlight key insights from our work:

• A large group of OPTIC researchers helped me to describe the challenge policymakers face when trying to interpret evaluations based on different uses of methods and terms; we offer a framework to improve how we communicate our science to each other and to policymakers.
• Brendan Saloner explains the technical constraints and social barriers that impede scaling up treatment and harm reduction programs.
• David Powell, Jevay Grooms, and colleagues show that about 40% of the racial patterns in overdose deaths since 2013 can be explained by the intersection of the changing illicit drug market and where people live, suggesting a possible role for place-based interventions to affect minority demographic differences in overdose rates.
• Sarah Axeen and colleagues note that fewer than half of pharmacies regularly stock buprenorphine, and pharmacies in low-income, Black, or Latinx neighborhoods were persistently less likely to regularly dispense it.
• Lindsay Allen explores population differences in engagement on the naloxone care cascade.
• Tamara Beetham examines how the waiver allowing Medicaid funds for residential addiction treatment affected Medicaid patients’ access to MOUD.

A recorded webinar featuring highlights from nearly every paper will be available on the Health Affairs' YouTube Channel. Also, Brendan Saloner will participate in a free virtual lunch and learn event on September 17, hosted by Health Affairs with Joshua Sharfstein, MD discussing the opioid policy landscape and what lies ahead.

As always, we welcome your comments and suggestions at OPTIC@rand.org.

View All Publications »

Making Sense of Policy Evaluations for State Policymakers

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Black Overdose Deaths Have Surged. Geography Helps Explain Why

USC Schaeffer

Despite Relaxed Prescribing Rules, Opioid Addiction Treatment Still Hard to Find at Pharmacies

USC Schaeffer

Higher Doses of Buprenorphine May Improve Treatment Outcomes for People With Opioid Use Disorder

National Institutes of Health

Insights About The Opioid Crisis. DE Metz, Editorial Staff. Health Affairs, 2025. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40893089/

Opportunities and Needs to Advance Prevention of Substance Use Disorders. C Blanco, ND Volkow. JAMA Pediatrics, 2025. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40029642/

Predictors of Non-Transport by EMS After a Nonfatal Opioid Overdose: A National Analysis. J Taylor, S Bandara, CP Thomas, B Saloner et al. Health Affairs Scholar, 2025. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40452857/

Opioid Dose, Duration, and Risk of Use Disorder in Medicaid Patients With Musculoskeletal Pain. A Perry, N Krawczyk, H Samples, SS Martins et al. Pain Medicine, 2025. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40581761/

Stable, But Weak: Fifty Years of US Illicit Drug Policy from Nixon to Trump and Beyond. B Saloner, S Bandara, A Kennedy-Hendricks. Journal of Health Politics, Policy, and Law, 2025. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40538325/

Prescription Stimulant Use, Misuse, and Use Disorder Among US Adults Aged 18 to 64 Years. B Han et al. JAMA Psychiatry, 2025. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40105821/

Understanding Medical Cannabis Use Internationally: Why Definitions and Context Matter. M Graham, RL Pacula, SC Pessar, et al. Addiction, 2025. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40590488/

Brendan Saloner will participate in a free virtual lunch and learn event on September 17, 2025 hosted by Health Affairs.