New Podcast Episode: Criminal Justice Reform

SMART Policy Podcast graphic.

If there’s one thing Tennesseans can agree on, it’s that the criminal justice system needs some improvements.  In the summer of 2021, the Reentry Success Act and Alternatives to Incarceration Act passed; at the same time telehealth permissions expanded.  Jeremy talks with Judge Duane Slone and Dr. Stephen Loyd about

SMART and TDMHSAS launch the Rocky Top Recovery Ambassador Program

Rocky Top Recovery Logo

The Student Recovery Ambassador is a pilot program funded by the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services to increase awareness and decrease stigma related to substance use and mental health disorders on college campuses.  The Rocky Top Recovery Ambassadors will host sober events, recruit students to attend

Guest Column: Telehealth can help thousands of recovering Tennesseans by adding more online medical providers

A doctor in a white coat holds a cell phone.

Read the full article at The Tennessean. In 2020, there were only 1,007 providers in Tennessee capable of prescribing buprenorphine, a safe and effective medication for the treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD).  However, in that same year it was estimated that at least 70,000 Tennesseans had OUD. While this

New Policy Brief: Opioid Overdose Deaths in Tennessee

Chart depicting overdose deaths involving multiple drugs.

Read the full policy brief here. Key Points Opioid overdose deaths (ODD) are best understood as three phases: first due to prescription opioid misuse, followed by a rise in heroin use, and currently due to contamination by synthetic opioids such as fentanyl. Each phase has posed unique policy challenges. Numerous

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