Corey Davis

To address the legal and policy barriers that hamper the establishment and expansion of evidence-based harm reduction measures, the Network for Public Health Law has launched the Harm Reduction Legal Project with support from Arnold Ventures.

The United States is experiencing a crisis of maternal morbidity and mortality. Sixty percent of the roughly 700 deaths from pregnancy-related complications each year are considered preventable. In response, lawmakers have introduced a host of legislation aimed at improving maternal health and reducing the maternal mortality rate, particularly among those groups that are disproportionately impacted, including black and Hispanic mothers.

The increase in drug-related harm that began over two decades ago continues to impact individuals and communities across the country. Partly due to this unprecedented and continuing rise in overdose-related harm, states and communities have taken a number of legal and policy steps to improve access to prevention and treatment. This post provides a few highlights, in no particular order.

This resource explores how Ohio's naloxone access and Good Samaritan laws differ from those in most other states, and in ways that may make them less easy to communicate and possibly less effective.

This webinar will examine the population health consequences of lack of sanitation and hygiene access on PEH, highlighting legal, policy, and community strategies that promote access to essential services.

Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs) are state-run databases that collect information on specified medications at the point of dispensing. The data is available to medical professionals and others, as permitted by relevant law. PDMPs can help clinicians improve decisions regarding opioid prescribing.

Dozens of state, local, and tribal governments have sued opioid pain reliever manufacturers for their alleged role in fueling the opioid overdose epidemic, and 41 state attorneys general are investigating potential unlawful sales and marketing practices by these manufacturers. Although these investigations and lawsuits appear similar to those against the tobacco industry during the 1990s, states should mindful of the important ways in which they differ.

This resource examines Indiana's combined naloxone access and overdose Good Samaritan law, and how it differs from those in other states.

This report briefly explains and contrasts the specifics of fatal overdose review panels in the six states that have established such panels as of late 2017.

The number of Americans affected by the opioid epidemic has reached staggering rates. In 2016, more Americans died from drug overdoses than died through the entirety of the Vietnam War. Fortunately, there is an effective, evidence-based way of treating opioid use disorder (OUD) – treatment with the medications methadone and buprenorphine, which is termed medication-assisted treatment (MAT).

Nearly 4.7 million Americans, including 1.3 million new enrollees, signed up for health care through the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces, and polling indicates the public has a favorable opinion of the law. Nevertheless, after failing in their full-scale attempt to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Congressional Republicans and the Trump Administration continue to put individual pieces of the legislation at risk of elimination.

This resource provides a description of the laws and regulations governing reporting of overdoses in the jurisdictions that require or explicitly permit it.