Linking People with Opioid Use Disorder to Medication Treatment: A Technical Package of Policy, Programs, and Practices
Centers for Disease Control & Prevention
This CDC Technical Package addresses a cascade of care for persons with Opioid Use Disorder, opportunities for linkage to care, best practices across populations, and barriers and facilitators to treatment. It provides guidance for linkage to services across various clinical settings including primary care, ED, hospital, behavioral health, pre- and post-natal care settings, and incarceration and community supervision care settings.
World Drug Report 2022
United Nations
“Consisting of five separate booklets, the World Drug Report 2022 provides an in-depth analysis of global drug markets and examines the nexus between drugs and the environment within the bigger picture of the Sustainable Development Goals, climate change and environmental sustainability.”
Trajectories of Prescription Drug Misuse Among US Adults from Ages 18 to 50 years
JAMA Network Open, January 2022
In this longitudinal study, researchers reviewed data from 11 Monitoring the Future adolescent cohorts over a 32 year period. Among the findings, all trajectories of prescription drug use during adolescence were associated with developing substance use disorder symptoms in adulthood.
Alcohol-Related Deaths During the COVID-19 Pandemic (Research Letter)
JAMA, March 2022
Reviewing mortality data from the National Center for Health Statistics, researchers found an increase in the number of deaths involving alcohol during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Behavioral Health and Trauma-Informed Care
Delaware Journal of Public Health, May 2022
“The collection of articles included in this special issue highlight the robust research and practice related to behavioral health, social determinants of health, and trauma-informed care that is happening in Delaware”
Addressing Childhood Adversities in Violence Prevention Programs
American Journal of Preventive Medicine, June 2022
This supplement issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine has been sponsored by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Preventing Black Male Suicides: A Roadmap for Action
Cities United
This publication provides a framework for city leaders to address the issue of suicide among young black males.
Opioid Prescriptions Among Elderly Adults by Income (Infographic)
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
This infographic shows an inverse relationship between income and opioid prescriptions per year.
The Need for More Substance Use Treatment
Central East ATTC
This factsheet provides statistics and justifications for increasing SUD treatment.
Fatal Overdoses in the Central East Region (Factsheet)
Central East ATTC
“…Long a major public health concern in the Central East region and nationwide, fatal overdoses are growing faster than rates of substance use. Overdoses are occurring across all ages, races, ethnicities, genders, and geographic areas [CDC]. Fentanyl is the largest driver of the explosion in overdoses. But overdoses of other substances—particularly methamphetamine—have also increased dramatically….” (The Central East Region includes Delaware counties.)
Neurocognitive impairments and brain abnormalities resulting from opioid-related overdoses: A systematic review
Drug and Alcohol Dependence, September 2021
Longitudinal Analysis of Substance Use Disorder Symptom Severity at Age 18 Years and Substance Use Disorder in Adulthood
JAMA Network Open, April 2022
“In this national multicohort study of 5317 individuals followed from ages 18 to 50 years, the majority of adolescents with the most severe SUD symptoms had 2 or more SUD symptoms in adulthood. Most adults using prescribed opioids, sedatives, or tranquilizers had multiple SUD symptoms during adolescence.”
2022 National Drug Control Strategy
ONDCP
The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) recently published its annual report online. A summary of the strategy is also available.
As Male and Female Drinking Patterns Become More Similar, Adverse Alcohol Risks for Women Become More Apparent
NIAAA
From the NIAAA Spectrum: “A consistent finding of epidemiological studies in recent years has been that measures of total alcohol consumption and misuse among women have largely converged with those of men, and women are more likely to suffer harmful consequences of drinking,” says NIAAA Director George F. Koob, Ph.D. “While men still hold a dubious ‘lead’ in these categories, the differences are much smaller now than they were throughout the last century, when measures of alcohol consumption and harmful alcohol use by men exceeded those of women by as much as a 3 to 1 margin.”
Methamphetamine-involved overdose deaths nearly tripled between 2015-2019
NIDA
A study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse documents the recent rise in methamphetamine-involved overdose deaths.
State Performance & Best Practices for the Prevention and reduction of underage drinking report 2020
This report highlights policies identified as best practices or with the potential to prevent and reduce underage drinking. It also summarizes state and the District of Columbia’s progress towards meeting this goal.
Report to Congress on the Prevention and reduction of Underage Drinking 2020
SAMHSA
This annual report, submitted to meet the requirement of the Sober Truth on Preventing Underage Drinking Act (STOP), provides an overview of the progress to address this form of substance use and highlights data from multiple national sources such as the National Drug Use and Health Survey, the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, and Monitoring the Future.
Advisory: Prescription Stimulant Misuse Among Youth and Young Adults
SAMHSA
From the Substance Use and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), this advisory reviews the evidence on prescription stimulant misuse among youth and young adults, identifies associated risk and protective factors, and provides prevention guidance for stakeholders.
2020 Key Substance Use and Mental Health Indicators from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH)
SAMHSA
“The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has released findings from the 2020 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). The data suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact on the nation’s well-being. Americans responding to the NSDUH survey reported that the coronavirus outbreak adversely impacted their mental health, including by exacerbating use of alcohol or drugs among people who had used drugs in the past year….Several changes to the 2020 NSDUH prevent its findings from being directly comparable to recent past-year surveys…“
Journal article on the “Adverse Birth Outcomes Associated With Prepregnancy and Prenatal Electronic Cigarette Use.”
This journal article explores the adverse birth risks associated with the use electronic cigarettes before and during pregnancy.
WHO releases report on the “Global Tobacco Epidemic”
”This report tracks the progress made by countries in tobacco control since 2008 and, for the first time, presents data on electronic nicotine delivery systems, such as ‘e-cigarettes’. The report shows that many countries are making progress in the fight against tobacco, but some are not addressing emerging nicotine and tobacco products and failing to regulate them”
COVID-19 Public Health Emergency – Preliminary Medicaid and CHIP Data Snapshot
This report explores COVID-19’s effect on Medicaid and CHIP services and utilization through October 31, 2020. CMS “…data show that, from March through October 2020, beneficiaries have foregone millions of primary, preventive, and mental health care visits due to the COVID-10 PHE, compared to the same time period in 2019. Although utilization rates for some treatments have rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, mental health services show the slowest rebound….”
NIAAA Article “Brain Research: A Focus on Childhood Trauma and Alcohol Misuse”
This article reviews literature on the connections between childhood trauma, alcohol misuse, and the development of the brain.
National Center of Health Statistics releases Drug Poisoning Mortality Report
”This NCHS Health E-Stat provides information on drug overdose mortality by state (and the District of Columbia) and by race and ethnicity, and adds to findings from a recently published Data Brief on drug overdose death rates.”
New SAMHSA Guide Highlights HIV Prevention and Treatment for People with Substance Use and/or Mental Disorders
”The HHS Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has released Prevention and Treatment of HIV Among People Living with Substance Use and/or Mental Disorders, a guidebook that addresses the co-occurrence of HIV and mental illness and/or substance use disorder and reviews effective programs and practices to prevent HIV and, for those with HIV, to increase linkage and retention to care in order to improve health outcomes.”
Click here to access the publication.
SAMHSA Reviews Interventions for “Treatment for Youth and Young Adults with Mood Disorders and other Serious Emotional Disturbances and Co-occurring Substance Use”
”This guide reviews interventions on treating substance misuse and substance use disorders (SUD) in youth with serious emotional disturbances (SED), distills the research into recommendations for practice, and provides examples of the ways that these recommendations can be implemented.”
Click here to access the publication.
APA releases findings on the health consequences of pandemic stress
APA’s Stress in AmericaTM poll reveals secondary pandemic health crisis; parents, essential workers, communities of color more likely to report mental, physical health consequences.
Click here to access the publication.
Two (2) Studies Suggest Vaping is Associated with “Mental Fog”
”Two new studies from the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) have uncovered an association between vaping and mental fog. Both adults and kids who vape were more likely to report difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions than their non-vaping, non-smoking peers. It also appeared that kids were more likely to experience mental fog if they started vaping before the age of 14.”
Click here to read the article.
Review and Prevention of Child Deaths – 2019 Annual Report and Supplemental Materials
Delaware Child Deaths Review Commission
The Child Death Review Commission was established “in order to provide its findings or recommendations to alleviate those practices or conditions which impact the mortality of children and pregnant women.”
Click here to access the publication.
Prescription Opioid Misuse and And Use of Alcohol and Other Substances Among High School Students – Youth Risk Behavior Survey, United States, 2019
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), August 2020
“This report presents estimated prevalence of current (i.e., previous 30-days) marijuana use, prescription opioid misuse, alcohol use, and binge drinking and lifetime prevalence of marijuana, synthetic marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, injection drug use, and prescription opioid misuse among U.S. high school students.”
Click here to access the publication.
Mental Health, Substance Use, and Suicidal Ideation During the COVID-19 Pandemic – United States, June 24-June 30, 2020
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), August 2020
“During June 24–30, 2020, U.S. adults reported considerably elevated adverse mental health conditions associated with COVID-19. Younger adults, racial/ethnic minorities, essential workers, and unpaid adult caregivers reported having experienced disproportionately worse mental health outcomes, increased substance use, and elevated suicidal ideation….”
Click here to access the publication.
Key Policy Challenges and Opportunities to Improve Care for People with Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders
The Health and Medicine Division of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine created the Forum on Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders to generate strategies to address the most persistent problems in delivering mental health and substance use services. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussion of the Forum’s inaugural workshop held in October 2019 which explored the key policy challenges that impede efforts to improve care for those individuals with mental health and substance use disorders.
Click here to access the publication.
NAP – The State of Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Health of Children and Youth in the United States
New interventions have emerged to address the recent opioid crisis affecting young people and families across race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic level. However, there is no overarching strategy to collect data on or measure impact of these efforts. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a workshop in October 2019 to bring together relevant stakeholders and to highlight some of these potential solutions. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.
Click here to access the publication.
Alcohol Advertising Compliance on Cable Television
“The purpose of this report is to measure youth exposure to alcohol advertising on cable television, including exposure to all alcohol advertisements and advertisements not in compliance with alcohol industry placement guidelines. In support of FTC recommendations for using no-buy lists, we also developed no-buy lists of programs and dayparts that generated high levels of noncompliant exposure.”
Click here to download the report.
Just Released: New Healthy People Law and Health Policy Substance Abuse Report
Laws and policies can help support healthier, safer, and more livable communities, reduce the negative effects of alcohol use, and support achievement of national goals proposed by Healthy People 2020.
The newest report, The Role of Law and Policy in Reducing Deaths Attributable to Alcohol to Reach Healthy People’s Substance Abuse Goals in the United States, is the fourth in a series of reports that highlight the practical application of law and policy to improve health across the nation.
The Opioid Crisis and the Black/African American Population: An Urgent Issue
This SAMHSA issue brief presents recent data on prevalence of opioid misuse and death rates in the Black/African American population; contextual factors and challenges to prevention and treatment; innovative outreach and engagement strategies to connect people to evidence-based treatment; and the importance of community voice.
Drugs of Abuse, A Resource Guide
Released on a periodic basis, Drugs of Abuse provides important science-based information about the harms and consequences of drug use, describing a drug’s effects on the body and mind, overdose potential, origin, legal status, and other key factors. In addition, the guide outlines U.S. drug regulation, including drug scheduling and chemical controls. The 2020 digital edition updates the 2017 Drugs of Abuse publication with the most current information on new and emerging trends in drug misuse and abuse, including fentanyl, marijuana and marijuana concentrates, vaping, and stimulant drugs.
Parental Marijuana Use Increases Substance Use in Children
A new study published by Bertha K. Madras, PhD, Beth Han, MD, PhD, MPH, Wilson M. Compton, MD, MPE, Elinore F. McCance-Katz, MD, PhD, Christopher M. Jones, PharmD, DrPH, MPH and Elizabeth I. Lopez, PhD in the Journal of the American Medical Association finds a link between parental marijuana use and youth substance use. The study found that parental marijuana use was associated with increased risk of marijuana and tobacco use and opioid misuse by both adolescent and young adult offspring, and of alcohol use by adolescent offspring.
Click here to learn more about this report
Occasional Paper from Monitoring the Future National Survey
Monitoring the Future has posted a new Occasional Paper which gives the levels and long-term trends in all of the drugs covered in the study for important subgroups in the student population of middle schools and high schools. These include alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, and a host of other drugs.
The 2019 National Drug Threat Assessment
DEA released 2019 National Drug Threat Assessment on January 30, 2020. Illicit drugs, and the transnational and domestic criminal organizations that traffic them, continue to represent significant threats to public health, law enforcement, and national security in the United States. The opioid threat (controlled prescription drugs, synthetic opioids, and heroin) continues at ever-increasing epidemic levels, affecting large portions of the United States. Meanwhile, the stimulant threat (methamphetamine and cocaine) is worsening and becoming more widespread as traffickers continue to sell increasing amounts outside of each drugs’ traditional markets. New psychoactive substances (NPS) remain challenging and the domestic marijuana situation is evolving as state-level medical and recreational legalization continues.
The 2019 Annual SHIP Meeting
The 2019 Delaware State Health Improvement Plan Meeting was hosted by the Division of Public Health (DPH), along with state and community partners. The 2019 annual SHIP report was released at the meeting, and stakeholders participated in several panel discussions including chronic disease, maternal and child health, and substance abuse. The 2019 SHIP report is now available online.
Delaware Child Death Review Commission Released 2018 Annual Report.
The Child Death Review Commission (CDRC) oversees three fatality review programs that are linked by their common mission to safeguard the health and safety of Delaware’schildren and mothers. The 2018 report is now available online.
National Institutes of Health releases 2018 Monitoring The Future survey results, December, 2018.
The Monitoring The Future survey measures drug and alcohol use and related attitudes among adolescent students nationwide. Survey participants report their drug use behaviors across three time periods: lifetime, past year, and past month. Overall, 44,482 students from 392 public and private schools participated in this year’s Monitoring the Future survey.
U.S. Surgeon General Declares E-cigarette Use Among Youth an Epidemic, December 18, 2018
U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams issued an advisory about the the dangers of electronic cigarette use among U.S. teenagers. The advisory was prompted by the latest statistics on vaping among youths, which found e-cigarette use among high school students has increased dramatically in the past year. The advisory called on parents and teachers to educate themselves about the variety of e-cigarettes and to talk with children about their dangers.
Dr. Tammy Anderson Featured in Delaware News Journal on opioid epidemic in Delaware, November, 02, 2018
Delaware News Journal features a story about Dr. Tammy Anderson ’s discussion with News Journal journalist Brittany Horn on the opioid epidemic in Delaware. Dr. Anderson introduces an online, interactive map launched by The Center for Drug and Health Studies. Users of the map can identify areas that have high concentration of overdose deaths for the past 5 years.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Releases 2018 Annual Surveillance Report of Drug-Related Risks and Outcomes, September, 12, 2018
The Annual Surveillance Report of Drug-Related Risks and Outcomes brings together the latest data available on the drug overdose epidemic in America, including opioid prescribing patterns, and various health behaviors and outcomes such as drug use and nonfatal overdoses and deaths.
The Center for Drug and Health Studies at University of Delaware Lauched ArcGIS to Provide Information on Teenager Risks and Protective Factors in Delaware
This interactive map is designed to highlight protective factors and substance use rates among teenagers in Delaware. Using the Delaware School Survey data, past month rates of alcohol use, marijuana use, and past year rates of prescription pain killer use are displayed by zip codes. Organizations can use this heat map to help identify areas that have higher concentration of substance use and to identify gaps in services. For parents, this map highlights resources and programs to benefit their families.
DEA releases 2017 National Drug Threat Assessment, October 23, 2017
2017 National Drug Threat Assessment (NDTA) outlines the threats posed to the United States by domestic and international drug trafficking and the abuse of illicit drugs. This reports highlights the scope and magnitude of the ongoing opioid crisis, and the prevalence of drug abuse issues on other types of drugs as well.
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime issued latest World Drug Report, June 22, 2017
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime released its 2017 World Drug Report earlier this summer. This report consists of five booklets: a summary report and policy implications; supply, use, and health consequences; cultivation, production, and consumption of plant-based drugs; an extended analysis of the global synthetic drug market; and discussion of the drug problem, organized crime, illicit financial flows, corruption, and terrorism.
SAMHSA Releases New National Survey on Drug Use and Health Data, September 7, 2017
SAMHSA released the latest findings from the 2016 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), which provides the estimates on substance use including including opioids (both prescription pain relievers and heroin), and the prevalence of mental health issues such as mental illness, depression, and suicidal thoughts.
Interim Report: Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis, July 2017
The White House Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis published its interim report. It included recommendations the President can take to combat the nation’s opioid crisis, to prevent deaths and provide more accessible and informed methods of treatment for addiction.