Visualization
The Ecosystem Approach to Opioid Policy
Mar 16, 2023
Patterns and consequences of opioid use are changing dramatically. Unfortunately, efforts to address problems related to opioids are insufficient and sometimes contradictory. Researchers provide a nuanced assessment of America's opioid ecosystem, highlighting how leveraging system interactions can reduce addiction, overdose, suffering, and other harms. Findings will be of special interest to policymakers, researchers, and media outlets.
How Leveraging System Interactions Can Help Curb Addiction, Overdose, and Other Harms
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Opioids play an outsized role in America's drug problems, but they also play a critically important role in medicine. Thus, they deserve special attention. Illegally manufactured opioids (such as fentanyl) are involved in a majority of U.S. drug overdoses, but the problems are broader and deeper than drug fatalities. Depending on the drugs involved, there can be myriad physical and mental health consequences associated with having a substance use disorder. And it is not just those using drugs who suffer. Substance use and related behaviors can significantly affect individuals' families, friends, employers, and wider communities.
Efforts to address problems related to opioids are insufficient and sometimes contradictory. In this 600-page report, researchers provide a nuanced assessment of America's opioid ecosystem, highlighting how leveraging system interactions can reduce addiction, overdose, suffering, and other harms. At the core of the opioid ecosystem are the individuals who use opioids and their families. Researchers also include chapters on ten major components of the opioid ecosystem: substance use disorder treatment, harm reduction, medical care, the criminal legal system, illegal supply and supply control, first responders, the child welfare system, income support and homeless services, employment, and education.
The primary audience for this book is policymakers, but it should also be useful for foundations looking for opportunities to create change that have often been overlooked. This report can help researchers better consider the full consequences of policy changes and help members of the media identify the dynamics of interactions that deserve more attention.
Chapter One
Introduction
Chapter Two
People Who Use Opioids
Chapter Three
Family Members of Individuals with Opioid Use Disorder
Chapter Four
Specialty Treatment System for Opioid Use Disorders
Chapter Five
Medical Care
Chapter Six
Criminal Legal System
Chapter Seven
Illegal Supply and Supply Control
Chapter Eight
Harm Reduction and Community-Initiated Interventions
Chapter Nine
First Responders
Chapter Ten
Child Welfare
Chapter Eleven
Income Support and Homeless Services
Chapter Twelve
Employment
Chapter Thirteen
Education
Chapter Fourteen
Synthesis: A Strategy That Reflects the Ecosystem Perspective
Appendix A
Overview of Synthesis Exhibits and Ideas
Appendix B
Overview of Chapter-Level Considerations
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