Recent legislative priorities include bills aiming to address the opioid epidemic. On June 24, 2016 The National Prevention Science Coalition through its Research-to-Policy Collaboration project hosted a briefing in collaboration with RTI International and the American Orthopsychiatry Association. Nationally recognized experts discussed research-based evidence for strategies preventing, intervening, and maintaining abstinence from opiate addictions. 

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This briefing reviewed the empirical support for a number of approaches that could be part of a comprehensive strategy for addressing the heroin epidemic. Systematically addressing substance abuse commands the need for prevention strategies among youth, contending with current users identified through the criminal justice system, and encouraging abstinence among those coping with substance addictions in communities. These approaches inherently require coordinating efforts in a range of settings, including schools, primary care offices, courts, prisons, probation offices, and community or civic centers.

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This session should be of value to legislative staff as well as administrators, researchers, and interest groups seeking to advance the use of research-based approaches that demonstrably combat opioid addictions before, during, and after they occur.