Policies related to Opioid Use and Health Outcomes

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

The rate of opioid overdose has nearly tripled in the last decade. Concerns about both efficacy and costs of using the criminal legal system to reduce opioid use have fueled interest in alternative policies to reduce the harms of opioids. Some examples of such policies are medical cannabis laws, increasing access to treatment for opioid use disorder, and the expansion of harm reduction programs. The papers in this panel study how these policies affect opioid-related health outcomes. The results from these papers will provide important information about innovative recent policies to address the opioid epidemic, which is one of the greatest public health challenges facing North America.

Policy Area

• Health Policy

Secondary Policy Area

• Crime, Justice, and Drugs

Chair

• Gabrielle Sorresso, Cornell University

Discussant

• Lilly Springer, University of Kansas

Organizer

• Chloe Smith, Cornell University

Individual Presentations

• The Impact of Medical Cannabis Legalization on Opioid Prescribing in the Medicare Population - Presenting Author: Victoria Elizabeth Bethel, University of Georgia

• Impact of State Policies on the Treatment of OUD in Adolescents Covered by Medicaid - Presenting Author: Shelby Jan Steuart, University of Maryland, College Park

• The Effect of Harm Reduction Policies on Overdoses: Evidence from Canada - Presenting Author: Chloe Smith, Cornell University

• The Last Mile to First Treatment: Search for Opioid Use Disorder Medication - Presenting Author: Lance Gui, University of Arizona