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.
The data is clear: 18-25 is a critical time for substance use and mental health interventions. This is why programs implemented on college campuses have significant impacts.
But that isn’t to say these interventions are easy to launch.
As we’ve discussed many times on this show, the criminal justice system has long since become the primary point of contact for substance use disorder, especially in Tennessee.
Read the full article at The Tennessean.
The Rocky Top Recovery Ambassadors put on a free concert on UT’s campus to raise awareness of mental health and recovery from substance use disorder. Participants were given free pizza and soda, and local sober bar Frog Juice had a table distributing alcohol-free kombucha. Other organizations had tables at the event, including the Center for Health Education & Wellness and the Coalition for Healthy and Safe Campus Communities.
There’s no question that over-prescribing of opioids kick-started the opioid crisis - the data is so overwhelming that nearly two dozen major companies have settled lawsuits to the tune of tens of billions of dollars because of that evidence.
We’ve since dramatically cut the supply of prescription opioids, so problem solved, right?
Roane County has been awarded the Excellence in the Application of the Opioid Litigation Principles.
The UT Grand Challenges grants are intended to foster partnerships that develop innovative solutions to some of the state’s most pressing issues (strengthening rural communities, overcoming addiction and advancing K-12 education). UT SMART has been awarded two and has advanced to the second stage in the selection process for a third within the mission of overcoming addiction.
For the two grants that have been awarded, UT SMART is part of teams that will work to map key addiction and recovery data across the state.
Local governments have been given direct control over a substantial amount of opioid settlement funding. While state-level data sources are valuable inputs, city and county leaders should consider local data sources when making decisions to ensure timely responses to emerging threats, as is exemplified by the rise of xylazine.
Read the full article by UT SMART’s Jeremy C. Kourvelas in the North Carolina Medical Journal.
Fentanyl testing strips (FTS) were decriminalized in Tennessee in 2022, and since then have become a widely used tool for harm reduction efforts across the state. Considering that fentanyl has almost entirely replaced heroin and other opioids in the drug supply, we sought to find out if people remained interested in using FTS and would actually change their behaviors to take additional precautions to prevent overdose in a market saturated by fentanyl.