'Growing Impact' podcast examines effects of flooding on substance use, support
Jul 10, 2023
The latest episode of the "Growing Impact" podcast explores the world of substance use and addiction through the lens of environmental disasters. Social Science Research Institute cofund Kristina Brant and her team are investigating how flooding in rural areas can affect drug use and what support…
Race- and gender-specific interventions may lower drug overdose death rates
Jun 26, 2023
Interventions to address stimulant and opioid use that consider race and gender may prove more effective at preventing overdose deaths than current methods, according to a Penn State-led team of researchers who studied how drug treatment admissions and overdose deaths differed among race and gender…
Increases in opioid overdoses in Pennsylvania varied by county during the COVID-19 pandemic
Mar 21, 2023
The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. It originally appeared in The Conversation and was written by Brian King, Andrea Rishworth, Louisa M. Holmes, and Ruchi Patel The big idea The COVID-19 pandemic intensified the opioid epidemic, according to our new research, which…News Topics: OpioidsSubstance Use
Personal connections matter to families taking care of kin during opioid crisis
Mar 7, 2023
For family members unexpectedly taking care of a relative’s child during the opioid crisis, it can be difficult to navigate the legal waters of assuming custody. The process may be easier — and come with more support — if these caregivers have personal connections to local resource institutions,…
Penn State leads multi-state project to help prevent opioid misuse
Feb 8, 2023
Opioid use disorder continues to wreak havoc across the United States. Opioids were involved in more than 68,000 overdose deaths in 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Penn State recently received a $1.3 million, two-year grant from the Substance Use and Mental…News Topics: Substance UseOpioids
Sterner honored by Pennsylvania Office of Rural Health for work on opioid crisis, human trafficking
Jan 5, 2023
Glenn Sterner, a Social Science Research Institute co-funded faculty member through the Consortium on Substance Use and Addiction and assistant professor of criminal justice at Penn State Abington, received the 2022 Rural Health Hero of the Year Award by the Pennsylvania Office of Rural Health for…
Sterner contributes to article about opioid settlement funds reaching rural communities
Dec 14, 2022
Glenn Sterner , a Social Science Research Institute co-funded faculty member and assistant professor of criminal justice at Penn State Abington, contributed to an article on CNN and KHN about how opioid settlement funds are often shortchanged by rural communities. The article mentions that…Ensuring fair distribution of the $1 billion+ opioid settlement in Pennsylvania
Nov 30, 2022
To ensure fair and impartial distribution of the $1.07 billion that was awarded to Pennsylvania as part of 2021’s massive settlement with opioid manufacturers and distributors, a team of interdisciplinary researchers from Penn State worked with counties across the commonwealth to develop the…
Holmes interviewed on WTAJ
Oct 13, 2022
SSRI cofund Louisa Holmes was recently interviewed on WTAJ about how her research on lack of naloxone is linked to increased overdose deaths in smaller Pennsylvania communities. Policymakers may wish to consider using opioid settlement funds to expand access to naloxone in communities, says Holmes.
Substance use disorder summit jumpstarts the discourse on stigma reduction
Sep 29, 2022
The Consortium on Substance Use and Addiction’s (CSUA) hosted the first annual Substance Use Disorder Stigma Reduction Summit recently at the HUB-Robeson Center in University Park. Organized by the Substance Use Stigma Reduction Collaborative, the event brought in researchers, practitioners and…
Lack of naloxone led to increased overdose deaths in rural Pa., study finds
Sep 29, 2022
Pennsylvania has one of the highest rates of opioid overdose in the nation, and, according to Penn State researchers, one’s chances of surviving that overdose can depend on where the person lives. Using data from the Pennsylvania Overdose Information Network from the years 2018-20 and American…
Consortium on Substance Use and Addiction to Host Stigma Reduction Summit
Sep 8, 2022
The Consortium on Substance Use and Addiction (CSUA)’s will host the 2022 Summit on Substance Use Disorder Stigma Reduction at Penn State University on Sept. 22. The event will take place in-person from 9 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. at the HUB-Robeson Center located at the University Park Campus. …
Stigma work by researchers showcased at Shatterproof’s Addiction Stigma Summit
Aug 26, 2022
Two faculty members at Penn State Berks, Jennifer Murphy, associate professor and chair of the criminal justice department, and Brenda Russell, professor of psychology, had their stigma work with students showcased at Shatterproof’s Stigma of Addiction Summit earlier this summer. Shatterproof is a…
Prevention is our best — and most underrated — weapon against opioids
Jul 18, 2022
By Diana Fishbein for The Hill The United States is in the midst of an unprecedented “syndemic” — multiple simultaneous crises — that has ravaged communities across the nation. COVID-19 took the country by storm, causing more than 1 million deaths, economic devastation and unimaginable suffering.…News Topics: Substance AbuseOpioids
How stigma acts as a barrier to overcoming the opioid crisis
Jul 18, 2022
The United States is in the midst of a significant, decades-long opioid epidemic, with more than 2.6 million Americans meeting the criteria for opioid use disorder (OUD). Opioid-related overdoses have also been on the rise, along with stigma related to OUD and is one of the biggest barriers to…News Topics: OpioidsSubstance Use
Penn State team leads effort to prevent youth substance misuse in PA
Apr 11, 2022
A team of Penn State experts from Evidence-based Implementation and Intervention Support (EPIS) is leading the five-year Opioid Misuse Prevention Project (OMPP) to support community-based partnerships throughout Pennsylvania to help prevent substance misuse and promote healthy development in young…
Examining the opioid epidemic through the lens of crime data
Jan 25, 2022
The opioid overdose epidemic in the United States remains a critically important public health issue that continues to worsen as time goes on. The estimated death toll in 2021 has reached the historical high of 100,000 overdose deaths from all drugs and over 75,000 deaths from opioid overdoses. We…
Youth with mental illness, substance-misuse histories at risk of opioid misuse
Nov 23, 2021
Opioid misuse is a devastating problem in the U.S. and a leading cause of death among adolescents and young adults. Penn State College of Medicine researchers found young people with certain mental health conditions and histories of substance misuse may have an increased risk of being diagnosed…
Education project to help improve data on drug overdose deaths
Sep 27, 2021
A new Penn State-led project is educating coroners, medical examiners, and others in the death certifier community in Pennsylvania about the reporting of substances associated with accidental overdose. The project, known as the Death Certifier Education Project, is a collaborative effort with the…
Can mindful yoga reduce opioid dependence?
Sep 27, 2021
With more than 100 people dying from opioid overdoses each day in the U.S., new approaches to treating opioid-use disorders are needed. Emma Rose, assistant research professor with Penn State's Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center, is leading a study that adds twice-weekly mindfulness-…
Family ties protect young adults from substance misuse
Mar 29, 2021
Opioid use disorders now affect over 2.1 million people in the United States, and rates of drug overdose have skyrocketed over the past three decades. In a collaboration between the Penn State Population Research Institute and Syracuse University’s Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion,…
Impacts of the pandemic on opioid-related drug overdose
Jan 5, 2021
Opioid-related drug overdose is a leading cause of death and injury in the United States. When we consider individuals who use opioids, social factors including poor access to healthcare, unstable housing and employment, and social isolation may double as risk factors for infectious disease…
Impacts of the coronavirus on student athlete substance abuse
Nov 5, 2020
College is a well-known risk environment for problematic alcohol use and substance abuse. In this post, Katherine McLean, associate professor of criminal justice at Penn State Greater Allegheny, outlines why student athletes may be at particular risk for higher levels of alcohol consumption and…
EIC Podcast on the opioid crisis is now available
Sep 2, 2020
The fifth episode of the new Evidence-to-Impact Podcast features a discussion with Glenn Sterner, PhD, assistant professor of criminal justice at Penn State Abington, and Stephen Forzato, deputy chief for tStatewide Drug Initiatives at the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General about reducing the…
The Real Dangers of Equating Opioid Dependence with Addiction
Jan 22, 2020
The National Prevention Science Coalition to Improve Lives (NPSC) and the Congressional Addiction, Treatment and Recovery Caucus (ATR) co-hosted a briefing with internationally recognized experts to discuss the dual challenges of addiction and dependence in developing policy responses to the…