Below are the most recent reports and articles from the RAND Drug Policy Research Center. Please visit our RAND Topics pages for a complete research archive on these and other drug policy-related research topics.
RAND Topic Pages: Substance UseThis study found an increase in the rate of overdose after Medicare Part D coverage began to include benzodiazepines among adults aged 65 to 69 years and 80 years or older and an increase in the rate of fall-related injury in adults 80 years or older.
This review reveals a growing literature on the effects of certain state opioid misuse prevention policies, but persistent gaps in evidence on other prevalent state policies remain.
We review the change over time in state-level policy environments around substance use in pregnancy and contrast the policy response with the principles and guidance from professional societies and federal agencies.
The present study is a first step in understanding the prevalence, types, and correlates of co-use in a probability sample of young tobacco users experiencing homelessness.
The COVID-19 pandemic strikes at a moment when our national response to the opioid crisis was beginning to coalesce. COVID-19 threatens to dramatically overshadow and reverse this progress.
Children with in utero opioid exposure had a predicted probability of being diagnosed with a pediatric complex chronic condition similar to that among children with tobacco exposure and those with neither exposure (20.4%,18.7%, and 20.2%, respectively). Our findings were consistent when we examined a subgroup of opioid-exposed children identified as having neonatal opioid withdrawal symptoms.
This study sheds light on the distribution of buprenorphine-waivered prescribers over the past decade. Growth has been rapid in communities affected by the opioid crisis, but slower in rural communities, and those with lower levels of education.
The national growth in opioid supply explains 75% of the national rise in opioid treatment admissions and the diversion component is a critical driver of the opioid epidemic.
Passage of morphine equivalent daily dose guidelines was associated with significant decreases in high dose opioid prescribing among workers' compensation claimants with chronic non-cancer related pain.
We conducted a systematic legal review of state laws that mandate or recommend that healthcare providers prescribe naloxone to patients with indicators for opioid overdose risk. By targeting higher-risk patients during clinical encounters, naloxone prescribing requirements could increase naloxone prescribed, destigmatize naloxone use, and reduce overdose harms.
Pregnant women with OUD referred by criminal justice agencies between 1992 and 2017 were consistently less likely to receive evidence-based treatment than women referred through other sources.
Urban Native American teens may benefit from culturally centered programs. No differences found between MICUNAY + Community Wellness Gatherings (CWGs) and CWGs only.
Over half of participants ordered to abstain from substance use complete 24/7 Sobriety without a detected substance use event. At the county level, the program is associated with a 9% reduction in substance-impaired driving arrests.
The objective of this study is to test for differences in the prevalence of a range of substance use behaviors and disorders across LGBT individuals of the same gender using a nationally representative sample of adults.
The rigor of study design varies notably across policy categories, highlighting the need for broader adoption of rigorous methods in opioid policy research.
This infographic illustrates the evolution from 2000 to 2015 of state policy environments related to substance use in pregnancy. Punitive or potentially punitive policies were more commonly enacted than were policies supporting treatment.
Combined with other studies of “swift-certain-fair”-style interventions, the HOPE replication further strengthens the conclusion that these methods reduce substance use among people under criminal justice supervision.
Treating OUD in the home via telehealth is expanding under COVID, but it is not clear what will happen post pandemic.
This study examined different types of co-use as a first step in understanding more detailed patterns of cannabis and tobacco/nicotine use among young adults, an age group that has the highest rates of both cannabis and tobacco/nicotine use, as well as co-use of these products.
A small share of prescription opioid users account for a large percent of total prescription opioid use.
