Rx and Illicit Drug Summit 2023

RTI Presentations

Intensifying Law Enforcement and Public Health Collaboration to Increase Access to Treatment
Monday, April 10, 2023 | 2:30 – 3:45PM ET
Presenters: Brad Ray, PhD (RTI); Richard J. Baum, MA, MPA (ONDCP); Brandon del Pozo, MPA, MA (Brown University)

This session will address how mobile, low-threshold access to substance use treatment and other health care, as well as the distribution of naloxone and fentanyl test strips in the communities most directly impacted by a drug enforcement operation, could reduce overdoses and promote engagement with care. Early research shows promise and points to the need to ensure that the maximum feasible public health benefit is accrued from drug market disruptions through effective law enforcement and health agency coordination.

Learning Objectives:

• Assess how disruptions of drug markets impact the behavior of people who use drugs
• Describe specific options for law enforcement agencies to accrue improved public health benefits from their drug enforcement operations
• Analyze how law enforcement and justice agencies could cooperate more effectively to reduce overdoses in the immediate wake of drug enforcement actions

Public Health Meets Criminal Justice: Evidence-Based Training for Practitioners to Address the Overdose Crisis  
Tuesday, April 11, 2023 | 2:15 – 2:45PM ET
Presenters: Jeri Ropero-Miller, PhD (RTI); Paige Presler-Jur (RTI); Brad Ray, PhD (RTI)

Add this session to your calendar.

Training is a critical tool for disseminating harm reduction principles to those addressing the overdose crisis. During this three-part session, learn more about successful evidence-based trainings for substance-use intervention, including harm reduction for law enforcement, rural strategies for addressing overdoses, investigating drug toxicity deaths for Medical Examiners and Coroners, and more.

1. Training around Rural Strategies for Addressing Overdose | Paige Presler-Jur will discuss training and resource innovations for combatting the overdose epidemic in rural U.S. communities with an initiative to enhance the capacity of rural communities to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with opioid overdoses among individuals who intersect the criminal-legal system.

2. Harm Reduction Training for Law Enforcement and Other Criminal Justice Practitioners | Dr. Brad Ray will describe an occupational safety training that educates police on local drug policy and harm reduction philosophies, who are sometimes first responders to overdose emergency calls and often equipped with naloxone.

3. Medicolegal and First Responder Training for Overdose Fatalities | Dr. Jeri Ropero-Miller will describe community-informed resources on investigating and certifying drug toxicity deaths. Attendees will learn how to communicate findings to those responding to overdose deaths—such as the medicolegal and first responder communities—to inform timely preventative public health actions.