Overdose Prevention Strategies
Jeffrey Bratberg, PharmD
Clinical Professor
University of Rhode Island
University of Rhode Island College of Pharmacy
Kingston, RI
Traci Green, PhD, Msc
Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Community Health Sciences
Boston University School of Medicine
Wayland
Adriane Irwin, MS, PharmD, BCACP
Clinical Assistant Professor
Oregon State University/Oregon Health & Science University College of Pharmacy
Oregon State University/Oregon Health & Science University College of Pharmacy
Albany, OR
Christopher Jones, PharmD, DrPH, MPH
Senior Advisor and Director of Strategy and Innovation, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Atlanta, GA
Pharmacy-focused policies to promote opioid risk reduction and injection safety are being implemented across the United States, allowing for greater distribution of naloxone (a nonaddictive opioid antagonist), stocking and dispensing of buprenorphine, and sale of clean syringes at the pharmacy. Oregon, Washington, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts have adopted differing models to allow for direct access to naloxone and syringes through community pharmacies without a prescription. In this presentation, investigators representing each of the four states will provide details regarding their states’ pharmacy-based naloxone policies, current and ongoing initiatives, training requirements, and naloxone distribution outcomes to date. Additional information on access to and uptake of buprenorphine and point of sale syringes will be provided, as well. Timelines tracking this quickly evolving policy area will be presented alongside distribution and sales data — using pharmacy chain distribution data of naloxone, buprenorphine, and nonprescription syringes — to understand the effect of state policies and initiatives. Barriers to expanding the three opioid risk reduction and injection safety efforts will be discussed by each of the investigators, to identify opportunities for improved access in their state moving forward. Two of the speakers, Principal Investigators from the MOON and RESPOND toolkits, piloted in the Northeast and Pacific Northwest, respectively, will briefly review their interventions’ components and relevant outcomes to introduce a new federally funded, pharmacy-based naloxone intervention that will be tested in collaboration across all four states using a stepped-wedge design over four years.
This session is accredited for the following accreditation types: CME, CNE, CPE, APA, AAFP, AAHCPAD*, NAADAC*, ASWB*
*State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit.