Prescription Drugs

According to research, behavioral health is a major societal issue with public health and criminal justice implications. In 2017, an estimated 19.7 million Americans aged 12 and older had substance use disorders (SUDs), 46.6 million had a mental health disorder, and 8.5 million had co-occurring SUDs and mental health disorders.

The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) leadership, in collaboration with the Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Abuse Program (COSSAP) team at the Institute for Intergovernmental Research (IIR), invite you to this no-cost Learning Community for Rural Jurisdictions occurring the second Tuesday of each month beginning February 14 from 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m., ET.

Increasing access to medication-assisted treatment (MAT) in the nation’s jails—where more than 60 percent of individuals have a substance use disorder (SUD)—is the goal of the Building Bridges initiative. The Institute for Intergovernmental Research (IIR) is releasing this solicitation for applications on behalf of the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA). BJA, in partnership with the U.S.

The Center has provided financial support to invite a subject matter expert Dr. Stuart Wasser to present at the PA Association of Treatment Court Professionals 2023 Conference that took place October 11-13, 2023. Dr. Wasser delivered a presentation titled "The MOUD Prescriber Perspective: Facilitators and Barriers to Induction". This session provided a brief overview of the major medications commonly used in the treatment of opioid use disorder. The efficacy of MAT and current best practices were discussed.

Co-hosted the COSSUP national forum with COSSUP TTA providers. RSAT TTA staff planned and held the following sessions:

The Santa Cruz Sheriff's Office (SCSO) RSAT program at Blaine Street Women’s Facility provides a gender-responsive substance use treatment and reentry program. The facility offers all three FDA approved medications for opioid use disorder as part of a medication-assisted treatment (MAT) program. The program was designed to better address the needs of an increasing number of incarcerated women with serious, chronic substance use disorder (SUD), the high rate of SUD in Santa Cruz County, and the percentage of incarcerated women who have complex barriers to successful reentry.

Provided an in-depth review of the opioid crisis, an overview of the regional data center, the need and potential impact of the center, advance notice of center features, and links between these efforts and others in the region.

To a group of mental health and social service workers, a comprehensive overview of DDRC and drug use in Alabama was provided.

This course presented the state’s substance use data repository as a tool to monitor and report the impact of substance use upon resources across justice, health, and human service stakeholders. This course examined how this tool was developed as a solution to creating a comprehensive story about the opioid epidemic using previously siloed data from various state agencies and partners. This course discussed how DDRC was built on this statewide initiative and provided an overview of DDRC.

Joint COSSAP tribal grantee and CTAS PA3 (alcohol and substance use) grantee cohort call. Calls include peer-to-peer exchange, information and resource sharing, discussion around key barriers and challenges to project implementation, sharing of promising practices, and micro-learning opportunities. The March call included discussion around project updates and identification of future TTA topics of interest.