One of OPTIC’s goals is to improve policymaking and the effectiveness of opioid policies by enhancing opioid policy evidence. As part of that effort, OPTIC is posting OPTIC-Vetted Policy Data Sets. The purpose of these data is to help the research and policy communities consistently define policy data variables, thereby improving policy data use, replicability and reproducibility of study findings.
The policy data areas currently available:
When researchers are assessing and comparing the effects of a given policy at the state level, it is essential to know the details of how individual policies are implemented. For example, prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMP) as they appear in state laws might look identical, but the functionality of the programs can differ by state. Our OPTIC-vetted data showcases these important distinctions for PDMPs and other opioid-related policies.
To create the OPTIC-Vetted Policy Data Sets, OPTIC investigators draw on internally collected and externally collected policy data. Internally collected data were developed for specific project purposes by RAND and/or USC always in collaboration with a public health lawyer on those projects. Externally collected policy data come primarily from the Prescription Drug Abuse Policy System and/or legal teams at Temple University who were contracted to collect data for OPTIC. Additional external sources of data include the National Conference of State Legislatures and the Kaiser Family Foundation. Specific sources for each set of variables are included in the data documentation. Elements from these various projects and data sets are synthesized, cross-checked and investigated to ensure that definitions of core elements defining a policy are accurately captured in the OPTIC version of the database. The core elements are those that theory and/or practice would suggest are key for making a policy effective. When there is reasonable debate on what those core elements are, we reflect in our OPTIC database reasonable variants of these policies researchers may want to capture. For example, it is our understanding of the literature that for PDMP to be effective, state laws must specify that prescribers MUST access the PDMP before writing a prescription to a new/existing patient. However, even if the state law clearly states this requirement, if the PDMP is not updated daily (say it is instead updated weekly or monthly), it is not likely to be as effective. Thus, our measure of must access PDMP is one that includes the technical aspects of the law (requirement to access PDMP before writing a prescription) in addition to elements like timing of updates that will likely influence the impact of a must access law.
Please cite the use of these data as "RAND-USC Schaeffer Opioid Policy Tools and Information Center. [YEAR]. OPTIC-Vetted [DATASET TITLE]. Obtained from https://www.rand.org/health-care/centers/optic/resources/datasets.html on [DOWNLOAD DATE]."
Years of Data: 2005-2019; Last Updated: March 2022
Years of Data: 2005-2019; Last Updated: January 2023
Years of Data: 2005-2019; Last Updated: February 2023
Years of Data: 2015-2020; Last Updated: September 2024
Years of Data: 1990-2020; Last Updated: September 2020
Years of Data: 1990-2023; Last Updated: March 2026
Years of Data: 1990-2021; Last Updated: March 2022
Years of Data: 1990-2023; Last Updated: July 2026
Years of Data: 1990-2023; Last Updated: October 2024
Years of Data: 1990-2021; Last Updated: October 2025
