Artwork stating 'Education Destroys Barriers', 'We Demand Treatment', and 'I Need A Chance'

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  • Beyond Books: How Libraries Are the Latest Front in the Opioid Fight

    Librarians across the nation are being trained to administer naloxone, a drug that can reverse an opioid overdose. In Denver’s Central Library, 350 staff members were trained to administer the drug. “Libraries in New Orleans, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Salt Lake County, Utah, among others, are also stocking the overdose reversal drug.”

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  • The Opioid Solution

    Although the opioid epidemic has spread across America, this story argues that local solutions are needed. In Allentown, when somebody overdoses on opioids, they get a visit from a Blue Guardian, a trained volunteer that connects the individual to treatment. The outreach program also focuses on reaching out to the families of addicts. In 2017, the program aided nearly 1,000 addicts to get treatment.

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  • ‘The Police Aren't Just Getting You In Trouble. They Actually Care.'

    Police departments across eastern Massachusetts frustrated by the rising opioid epidemic decided to make themselves avenues to treatment rather than instruments of punishment. “It was pretty evident that we weren’t arresting our way out of anything.” The idea evolved into a national program called the Police-Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative with nearly 400 police departments helping thousands of people access drug treatment services across the country.

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  • Opioid Crisis Compels New York to Look North for Answers

    Supervised injection sites in Canada have prevented hundreds of heroin overdose deaths. Now, New York City is looking to follow Canada's lead with a city-wide initiative to establish safe injection sites. While the Trump Administration is not in support of such sites, experts believe that it is unlikely that the federal government would interfere with a site if a city is in support of it.

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  • New Hampshire syringe programs: 'Meeting people where they're at'

    Hand Up Health Services is a syringe services program that provides clean needles to addicts, also known as “needles exchange” programs. The program is only one of two in New Hampshire. While there's a lot of stigma behind these types of programs, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions shows that “ people who inject drugs are five times more likely to enter treatment if they connect with an SSP.”

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  • How one rural California county went from the state's highest rate of opioid deaths — to zero

    Plumas County had one of the highest rates of opioid deaths in the state of California. So, 24 coalitions banded together and formed an umbrella group in order to address the problem. “Plumas County went from having the highest rate of overdoses in California to the lowest.”

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  • Prison

    Across the country, prisons are incorporating “therapeutic communities” to help incarcerated individuals find the residential treatment they need. Substance abuse continues to be strongly linked to recidivism, and in an attempt to break that cycle, these therapeutic communities provide people with structured rehabilitation, counseling, and support as an alternative to traditional prison. Many are federally funded, but considering they’ve only recently gained traction, they still face issues like buy-in and capacity.

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  • Police

    In Philadelphia, the 22nd District police department has adopted the Police Assisted Diversion program, or PAD. The program trains police officers to take a public health approach to addiction and substance abuse, giving those they encounter who need treatment the option to go through treatment rather than the criminal justice system. Besides helping those with substance abuse issues, the PAD program seeks to build trust between the community and the police through on-the-ground engagement efforts.

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  • Support

    In Philadelphia, the Recovery Overdose Survivor Engagement (ROSE) project has seen success in connecting at-risk patients and those who have survived an overdose to treatment centers and counseling services. Since its launch, trained recovery specialists engaged 125 people and coordinated 78 treatment referrals. After an overdose, people usually receive emergency treatment in the form of naloxone, but getting treatment after that to prevent future overdoses is usually more rare.

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  • A promising new tool against child abuse

    A pilot program in New Mexico shows promise in helping stabilize families at risk of homelessness by giving them subsidized housing combined with social services like therapy and addiction treatment. Keeping Families Together prevented numerous children from entering foster care and reduced repeat cases of abuse and neglect, and is cost-effective. But it's unclear if it will continue with state funding, bringing instability once again to many participants.

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