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Social Control, Law, Crime, and Deviance Commons

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Substance Abuse and Addiction

Opioids

Publication Year

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Social Control, Law, Crime, and Deviance

The Stories Behind The Struggle: A Closer Look At First Experiences With Opioid Misuse, Khary K. Rigg, Shannon M. Monnat, Katherine Mclean, Ashton Verdery, Glenn Sterner May 2020

The Stories Behind The Struggle: A Closer Look At First Experiences With Opioid Misuse, Khary K. Rigg, Shannon M. Monnat, Katherine Mclean, Ashton Verdery, Glenn Sterner

Population Health Research Brief Series

The opioid crisis is a national public health emergency. Over 47,000 people in the U.S. died of opioid overdoses in 2017. Improving our knowledge about how people first come to misuse opioids can help to inform prevention and treatment interventions. This research brief shows that opioid misuse most often begins before age 25, most people obtain the opioids they misuse from friends and family rather than a health care provider, and experimenting and coping with life stressors are the most common motivations for starting opioid misuse.


Understanding Opioid Users’ Views On Fentanyl Could Help Reduce Overdoses, Kate Mclean, Shannon M. Monnat, Khary Rigg, Glenn Sterner, Ashton Verdery Jul 2019

Understanding Opioid Users’ Views On Fentanyl Could Help Reduce Overdoses, Kate Mclean, Shannon M. Monnat, Khary Rigg, Glenn Sterner, Ashton Verdery

Population Health Research Brief Series

The opioid overdose crisis is a national public health emergency, made much worse in recent years by the widespread emergence of fentanyl – a highly potent synthetic opioid. This research brief summarizes the findings from their research conducted in southwestern Pennsylvania in 2017 and 2018. Results show that the majority of interviewees who use opioids are fearful of and want to avoid fentanyl and would utilize harm reduction strategies such as fentanyl test strips if they were made more widely available.