The Spatial-Network Transmission of the Opioid Epidemic

• In Event: Substance Use, Death, and COVID

Abstract

The current study examines the transmission across communities of opioid related crime incidents and deaths and the connections to changing health and criminal justice policies. Using negative binomial spatial models and data from different sources such as UCR, NIBRS, CDC, and ACS, analyses suggest that opioid related incidents are connected from a community to another in ways that are consistent with a contagion process. We investigate next the potential role of changing policies in understanding this phenomenon.

Authors

• Corina Graif, Penn State University

• Christopher Seto, The Pennsylvania State University