The UT SMART Initiative Joins National Network Addressing Opioid Crisis
New National Association of Counties cohort joins state associations of counties to share best practices in implementing opioid settlement funds
SMART News
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Finding Opportunities to Save Lives With Overdose Fatality Review Teams (Podcast)
Overdose Fatality Review, or OFR, is a fairly new and yet already proven strategy for identifying gaps in recovery ecosystems. In other words, you bring together people from healthcare, law enforcement, criminal justice, harm reduction services and more to jointly examine cases of fatal overdoses and find out how these people fell through the cracks.
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New TACIR Report on Reducing Youth Vaping in Tennessee
Last year, the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (TACIR) was charged with studying the impacts of vaping/e-cigarette use in persons under 21 years of age, as youth vaping rates have climbed significantly over the last ten years.
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Maury County’s Fiscally Conservative Approach Pays Off (Podcast)
Late last year, Maury County Commission approved the spending of $920,770 in opioid settlement funding, abating the opioid crisis in their community from multiple angles.
But it’s more than just the broad and comprehensive approach that caught our eye at SMART. The formal and transparent procedures of the Maury County Opioid Abatement Committee have made it so that any local resident can follow along and see exactly how these dollars are being allocated.
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Opioid Abatement Strategy County Highlights: Q1 2025
West: Lake County
Seeking to improve both treatment outcomes as well as continuity of care between services, Lake County has funded a certified peer recovery specialist (CPRS) to work directly in the county jail.
A CPRS is an individual in recovery who has met training requirements and is certified by the state of Tennessee to provide peer-to-peer support services. CPRS services have been shown to have a positive impact on treatment attendance and outcomes, cravings, risky behaviors and other components of recovery, but they are underutilized.
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Opioid Abatement Strategy County Highlights: Q1 2025
West: Lake County
Seeking to improve both treatment outcomes as well as continuity of care between services, Lake County has funded a certified peer recovery specialist (CPRS) to work directly in the county jail.
A CPRS is an individual in recovery who has met training requirements and is certified by the state of Tennessee to provide peer-to-peer support services. CPRS services have been shown to have a positive impact on treatment attendance and outcomes, cravings, risky behaviors, and other components of recovery, but they are underutilized.
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Opioid Settlement Updates: Critical Deadline
March 30, 2025 is a crucial date for counties’ opioid settlement activities for multiple reasons. Not only is the next Opioid Abatement Trust Fund allocation and spending report due on March 30, this is also the deadline for allocating funds from 2023. If your county has any opioid abatement funding from 2023 that has not yet been allocated, contact your regional UT SMART consultant. We can help you identify spending priorities and assist with reporting to the OAC.
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Opioid Settlements in Tennessee: “Where are We Now” Analysis by The Sycamore Institute
The Sycamore Institute produced this excellent overview explaining where Tennessee stands with opioid settlements. This report also details some of the work that SMART has done with county governments, and it uses some of our payment projection data for their graphics.
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From Busting Pill Mills to Battling at Home: An Officer’s Daughter Finds Recovery (Podcast)
From 2001–2011, as the prescription opioid crisis spiraled out of control, Kim Harmon, then with Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, went undercover to bust pill mills, among other investigations into medical fraud.
