 The Indiana State Department of Health has granted naloxone kits to local health departments across the state since 2016. This effort to expand naloxone access to lay and first responders has resulted in the distribution of more than 27,000 naloxone kits to 65 counties between September 2016 and October 2018. To better understand the population receiving these kits, researchers from Indiana University included pre- and post-surveys on self-addressed postcards within each naloxone kit. Key findings of the postcards indicate that almost 90 percent of lay responders acquired the naloxone kit for a friend or family member; almost 50 percent of lay responders had never used naloxone before; almost 60 percent of respondents did not call 911 before or after using the kit; and three-fourths of lay responders were aware of Indiana’s Good Samaritan Law. Click here to read the full brief.
As a result of the opioid epidemic, Indiana is experiencing an increased demand for behavioral health professionals. In response, Ascend Indiana, the state’s talent and workforce development initiative, is one of the partners leading a project to produce more dual-licensed clinical social workers trained to battle Indiana’s opioid epidemic. The collaboration among Ascend, Community Health Network, the Indiana University School of Social Work-IUPUI Campus and the University of Indianapolis prepares students for dual licensure as a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) and licensed clinical addiction counselor (LCAC). The academy is designed to be replicated throughout the state, and in central Indiana alone will be able to add up to 30 of these specially-trained professionals each year.
OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP is exploring bankruptcy to address potentially significant liabilities from roughly 2,000 lawsuits alleging the drugmaker contributed to the deadly opioid crisis sweeping the United States. Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection would halt the lawsuits and allow Purdue Pharma to negotiate legal claims with plaintiffs under the supervision of a U.S. bankruptcy judge. Attorney General Curtis Hill filed a lawsuit against Purdue Pharma in late 2018 as well, alleging that the company minimized the risk of addiction, exaggerated the benefits of opioids to doctors and consumers and failed to disclose additional risk of high dose opioids.
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