Policymakers and community leaders play an important role in addressing opioids in our communities. This page highlights the most recently added resources specifically targeting elected and appointed government officials and staff members, members of the law enforcement community and first responders, and employees and volunteers of organizations. These resources, identified with orange tiles, include policy roadmaps, implementation guides, toolkits, education materials, sample legislation and other materials that can help you design and implement effective programs to prevent and address the consequences of opioid crisis.
If you’d like to submit materials for inclusion consideration or suggest a future featured topic, please visit CLOUD’s call for submissions page.
This 3 minute video describe the Community Opioid Prevention and Education (COPE) trailer deployed by the Montgomery County, Maryland police department. The COPE trailer uses a model bedroom and bathroom to educate citizens about the signs of opioid abuse they might see in their friends and loved ones and provides information about accessing treatment and using naloxone to reverse opioid overdose.
This case study looks at an innovative strategy to provide community based substance use disorder services for individuals dually insured by Medicare and Medicaid in Hennepin County, Minnesota.
GOAL (Global Outreach for Addiction Leadership and Learning) helps faith-based organizations build sustainable addiction prevention and recovery support programs. GOAL is based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and also works in communities around the world including Kenya and Uganda.
This article presents a new conceptual framework for understanding the opioid crisis by describing factors that escalate risk for drug use, addiction, and overdose and proposes six policy strategies to address the epidemic’s root causes and deescalate risk. The framework promotes a comprehensive approach that recognizes the social determinants of health and shifts public policy from punishment to a public health approach.
This toolkit was designed to assist faith-based organizations in creating stigma-free communities. The toolkit includes information about stigma, a sample resolution for organizations to adopt, and information about forming a task force, creating an action plan, and communicating with the press.
Morris County, New Jersey’s Proud to Be Stigma-Free Initiative’s website includes educational information about stigma and how it impedes individuals from seeking help for substance use disorder or mental health conditions. It also includes a community pledge and tool-kits for local municipalities, colleges and universities, and faith-based organizations.
Recovery Reinvented is an initiative of the North Dakota Behavioral Health Division led by North Dakota First Lady Kathryn Burgum who herself is in long term recovery for over 18 years. The goal of Recovery Reinvented is to eliminate the shame and stigma of addiction in North Dakota through education and promoting proven prevention, treatment and recovery approaches.
The Brandeis Opioid Resource Connector provides a curated collection of community-focused programs, tools, and resources to help policymakers and community leaders develop interventions to address the opioid crisis in their communities. The website includes information on over 160 program models that have been implemented across the country.
This philosophical and scientific exploration of understanding addiction and stigma explores various models explaining addictive behavior, and presents a model of “pragmatic determinism” that recognizes an individual’s genetic or social factors may contribute to the development of addiction while also acknowledging that empowering an individual’s ability to make choices in a compassionate and effective treatment program can also be essential for treatment and recovery.
This web-based opioid prevention toolkit from Oregon Health Authority’s Heal Safely campaign is intended to be used by community health workers and public health officials to help communities find safe non-opioid options for healing safely and addressing pain.