Updates

In collaboration with schools, community members, and tobacco and substance use disorder treatment specialists in rural areas, we are developing educational programs and resources to address e-cigarette use (also called vaping) among adolescents. The program focuses on supporting teens in quitting e-cigarettes and supporting health care providers through a credit-bearing educational program.

There is not a “one size fits all” approach to treatment for opioid use disorder as the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration explains. By reducing stigma related to methadone, this project aims to make all Food and Drug Administration-approved medications for opioid use disorder available in communities.

For the Growing Resilience initiative, we are partnering with rural communities to develop trauma-informed approaches to support SUD prevention for rural youth. Learning from schools, pediatric and family medicine practices, social service agencies, and others working with young people, we are collaborating on relevant evidence-based interventions to address the impact of trauma and reduce the risk of developing SUD.

A recent report explores the potential of a new approach to providing support locally for people experiencing emotional or suicidal crisis. The center partnered with SafeSide Prevention to examine the current behavioral-health crisis care system and how Community-led Safe Spaces offer a promising option to fill the gaps.

To help reduce stigma related to substance use disorder and communicate the wide-reaching benefits of increasing access to treatment closer to home, the center has developed the presentation “Welcoming Recovery: How Locally Based Treatment Programs Bring Positive Change.”

The drug landscape changes constantly as substances and analogues are introduced or used in different ways. As rural communities and providers respond to new challenges, they can find useful information about trends on the websites of federal agencies and national/international organizations.

Federal and state agencies, local health departments, and health care providers across the country have become increasingly concerned about the rise of xylazine, an adulterant often found in combination with fentanyl and also mixed with heroin, stimulants like methamphetamine and cocaine, and other substances.

White House Office of National Drug Control Policy Senior Policy Analyst Peter Gaumond and General Counsel Robert Kent laid out a series of programs in the Biden-Harris Administration National Drug Control Strategy that are intended to build recovery ecosystems in communities nationwide.

Sam Quinones and Beth Macy have spent much of their careers as journalists and authors covering this nation’s overdose crisis. At the Taking Action Summit, they both stressed that community engagement—and the sense of purpose and belonging it gives rise to—is capable of turning the tide.

Dr. John Blosnich discussed how LGBTQ people with substance use disorder contend not just with stigma related to SUD but with stigma related to sexual orientation and gender identity, which can be unintentionally yet overtly part of the health care experience in rural areas.

Tony Hoffman, co-founder of pH Wellness, reflected on how his substance use disorder eventually led to homelessness and how that experience gave him perspective on the stigma faced by people in similar circumstances. Instead of blaming people, he feels a sense of compassion and empathy. Rather than judging them, he wonders about the source of the pain that led to SUD.

Dr. Uché Blackstock broke down the causes of health care inequity—describing the “4 I’s of Oppression,” a framework through which an organization can advance change.