Email UpdatesWhile there have been modest decreases recently, overdose deaths in the United States increased more than 50% since 2019, claiming over 100,000 lives in 2023. The National Institute of Health’s (NIH’s) Helping to End Addiction Long-term Initiative, or NIH HEAL initiative, aims to hasten scientific solutions and combat the opioid crisis. The initiative recently announced new resources to aid in reversing overdoses across the United States.
The Overdose Crisis Community Decision Tool is a brief questionnaire that is intended for use in communities to select appropriate approaches for decreasing overdose deaths. The tool should be used by local community leaders and decision-makers and can be tailored to accommodate community-specific needs. It was developed using knowledge gained from the HEALing Communities Study (HCS). The HCS was conducted over four years in 66 communities across four states (Massachusetts, Ohio, Kentucky, and New York). Participating communities implemented evidence-based strategies to reduce opioid-overdose deaths. The strategies emphasized opioid education, naloxone distribution, medications for opioid use disorder, and safer opioid prescribing and dispensing. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) collaborated to develop the Opioid-Overdose Reduction Continuum of Care Approach (ORCCA) Practice Guide. This guide provides a list of evidence-based practices across the continuum of care to reduce opioid-related overdose deaths and offers advice for implementing these strategies.
See the NIH HEAL initiative webpage for more resources pertaining to the project. For more information on overdose fatalities in the United States, refer to the Academy news story, "U.S. Overdose Deaths Drop Significantly." More overdose resources can be found on the Academy’s Substance Use Tools & Resources Collection. The Academy’s Literature Collection can be used to find further reading about overdose prevention.