News & Insights

The illicit drug supply in the U.S. is dangerously contaminated, with widespread fentanyl adulteration one high-profile example.  States and municipalities interested in promoting evidence-based overdose prevention strategies should enact favorable drug checking policies, and they should consider a comprehensive approach, like a recently enacted law in California, to most effectively resolve existing barriers.

At the end of April, harm reductionists from across the globe came together in Bogota, Colombia to attend the Harm Reduction International Conference. The impacts of U.S. funding cuts to international programs and the continued criminalization and forced treatment both in the U.S. and internationally have many in the harm reduction field alarmed.

Grief is a near-universal human experience, yet it remains markedly absent from public health discourse and infrastructure. Instead, public health systems tend to treat bereavement as a private, individual matter rather than a legitimate population health concern. As we reconsider the broader mental health landscape, we must ask: What would it look like for public health systems to fully acknowledge grief in its cultural complexity? 

Gun violence, accidental and intentional is the number one killer of children and teens in the U.S., surpassing all other causes of death, including car crashes. While access to firearms in the home is a significant contributing factor, the majority of U.S. gun owners do not practice safe firearm storage. There are no federal laws requiring the safe storage of guns. However, several states have passed Safe Storage laws, which are associated with significantly reduced risk of youth injury and death from firearms.

Public health advocacy is a core function of public health and plays a crucial role in shaping policies, raising awareness, and ensuring equitable health outcomes. Often, however, public health professionals are unsure of the legal boundaries separating these activities. In this Q&A, Shannan Piccolo, Senior Attorney for the Network for Public Health Law’s Mid-States Region, discusses key differences between public health education, advocacy, and lobbying. 

Several states have proposed legislation restricting the use of state funds to purchase opioid antagonists from entities that have entered into an opioid-related litigation settlement regarding misconduct in the sale or distribution of prescription opioids. As they consider whether these laws are in the best interests of both taxpayers and people at risk of overdose, policymakers and advocates should consider the negative effect such laws would likely have on access to lifesaving overdose reversal medications.

Given the decline in federal support for addressing racial inequities, it is increasingly imperative for state and local governments to confront structural racism through legal and racial equity tools like Racial Equity Impact Assessments (REIAs), which create a requirement that a racial equity impact assessment be conducted for proposed legislation.

There are legitimate and safe uses of the gas nitrous oxide for medical, culinary arts and industrial use. However, recreational use of nitrous oxide is on the rise, due in great part due to it's popularity on social media. Given the significant short-term and long-term health impacts of nitrous oxide use, public health officials and community organizations should examine their state laws to determine if law change, or just law enforcement, is needed.

The private sector community benefits movement has the potential to have a positive and significant impact on social determinants of health. Public health practitioners and others working to improve the health of their communities should be familiar with this movement and consider opportunities to support these efforts towards the common goal of advancing health equity.

Immigration status is a social determinant of health and the structural factor with the most direct impact on the health outcomes of immigrants is access to health care. Refugee, immigrant, and migrant communities in the United States, on average, have lower rates of health insurance, face increased barriers to care, and receive lower quality of care than U.S.-born populations. However, there are actions that states can take through federal programs, but also outside of federally funded programs, to improve access to care.

Race-neutral strategies can be a powerful tool in the struggle to dismantle structural racism. The current political, social, and legal environment is increasingly attacking racial justice efforts and milestones at the federal, and in some cases, state and local levels. This is not a call to abandon race-based strategies for creating a racially just society. It is a call to take a new look at the ability of race-neutral strategies to do the same. 

As a result of federal grant claw backs, state and local public health agencies have halted work and initiated layoffs on projects which utilized those federal funds, including infectious disease prevention and surveillance, vaccination programs, outbreak responses, community health workers, and health disparities programs.