Mental Health America believes that data is a critical tool for policy change. This report details state-level data and recommendations for action across the continuum of services and supports for opioid use, including prevention, treatment, and recovery.
This report explores publicly available national data to identify where in the country additional investments are most needed and highlights specific policy recommendations that would have the highest impact for preventing and reducing opioid deaths.
The opioid crisis requires consistent short- and long-term solutions to keep individuals safe and save lives while expanding access to treatment and lasting recovery. Although many states are making progress in preventing opioid overdose deaths, that progress is not uniform across the U.S. States differ significantly in their implementation of overdose prevention strategies, substance use education, and access to opioid use treatment and recovery.
The data presented throughout this report show us how, where, and to whom states and localities need to provide early and preventive substance use education and access to lifesaving resources to prevent overdoses.
The rankings and policy recommendations for action are categorized into four sections: public health, health care, schools, and jails. You can explore the state rankings for each section by clicking through the navigation bar on the left. For more detailed information on the indicators and policy recommendations download the report here.
Public health: The public health department’s roles in preventing opioid overdose deaths are to broadly educate communities on opioid risk, to collect data on where overdose prevention strategies are being successful, to deliver resources in places where the general public is most likely to need or seek opioid-related support, and to target resources for opioid overdose prevention where they are needed most.
Health Care: The health care system’s role in preventing opioid overdose deaths is to identify and treat people at risk of, and living with, opioid addiction. These approaches aim to support improved early identification of opioid risk, reduce interpersonal barriers to discussing opioid-related concerns, and increase access to the most effective and low-cost treatment options for OUD.
Schools: The role of schools in preventing opioid deaths is to educate students and parents on opioid use and overdose prevention, and to ensure naloxone access in places where students are at greatest risk of overdose.
Jails: The role of jails in preventing opioid overdose deaths is to equip people with OUD with naloxone and connections to community-based treatment as they leave incarceration.
Collectively, the measures and recommendations represent the various points in the system of care with the greatest potential impact for reducing opioid deaths. For each sector, the report provides: a list of the indicators used for scoring, the overall ranking results, the specific policy recommendations for each system of care, and a breakdown of findings for each indicator.
This work was supported by Emergent BioSolutions. Mental Health America maintained full editorial control over the data analysis and authorship of the report.
