Overdose Prevention Initiative

@IncubatorGHAI's Overdose Prevention Initiative.
Driving policy, partnerships, and prevention to end #overdose deaths through evidence, equity, and compassion.

[Overdose Prevention Initiative @ActionForOD]

New today! Our free U.S. Federal Advocacy Action Guide.

Built for #overdose prevention and broad public health advocates who need to understand the functions and workings of our federal legislative system.

Grab it on HATCH, use it to train your team, then share it!

[Global Health Advocacy Incubator @IncubatorGHAI]

New resource 🚨

The U.S. Federal Advocacy Action Guide is here.
A practical roadmap to help overdose prevention advocates navigate Congress, build power and advance life-saving federal policies.

Built with real case studies. Designed for action.
👉 https://t.co/1lhksKswaY

[Overdose Prevention Initiative @ActionForOD]

The House FY27 Labor-HHS committee print is out. It recommends $7.294B for SAMHSA, $145M below FY26 enacted. We're digging into what this means for overdose prevention, treatment, recovery and workforce programs, and will share impact updates shortly.

https://t.co/ZKtzhosMAn

[Overdose Prevention Initiative @ActionForOD]

We know "harm reduction works."
The useful point from new research: in real-world OUD care across 112 U.S. health systems, MOUD and psychotherapy were each linked to better remission, but integrated care showed the strongest effect.

https://t.co/9Dmugtu4zm

[Overdose Prevention Initiative @ActionForOD]

The bipartisan CHIERS Act would help communities cover transportation to overdose prevention services, SUD treatment, detox and recovery supports. Access to care has to include a way to get there. @DonJBacon @RepDavidValadao @RepBonamici

https://t.co/i3qgjPylBx

[Overdose Prevention Initiative @ActionForOD]

When funding shifts away from harm reduction, communities lose tools that keep people alive. Ohio health departments may run out of fentanyl test strips after federal guidance removed them from eligible SAMHSA-funded supplies.

https://t.co/pXbLzpLLPV

[Overdose Prevention Initiative @ActionForOD]

As we recognize National Naloxone Awareness Day, it's important to remember: overdoses can happen at school, too. More than 700 teens died from overdose in 2022 and 2023. Every school should have naloxone on hand and staff trained to use it.

https://t.co/BXfPNwSzGz

[Overdose Prevention Initiative @ActionForOD]

Naloxone is part of why that number is near 70,000 and not the 110,000 we faced a few years ago. The tools behind it only keep working as long as we keep funding them, which makes right now the wrong time to ease off. #NaloxoneAwarenessDay

[Overdose Prevention Initiative @ActionForOD]

National Naloxone Awareness Day was yesterday. You saw a lot of posts about putting naloxone in public places: stadiums, libraries, transit hubs. All good. Here's the part most of them skipped. #NaloxoneAwarenessDay

[Overdose Prevention Initiative @ActionForOD]

The awareness day passed, but the asks are the same any day of the year. Push past the comfortable version: tell your state and Congress to fund take-home and mail-based naloxone, protect what's working and connect every reversal to real treatment.

[Overdose Prevention Initiative @ActionForOD]

But "down" isn't "done." Nearly 70,000 people is still a small city's worth of preventable death, much of it behind closed doors that no awareness campaign reaches.

[Overdose Prevention Initiative @ActionForOD]

The progress is real. CDC's latest data shows overdose deaths fell to about 70,000 in the year ending last December, down roughly 15%. Wider naloxone access is part of why.

[Overdose Prevention Initiative @ActionForOD]

So the real fight is bigger than public placement. It means take-home naloxone, mail-based delivery and free distribution that puts the medication in people's homes before anything goes wrong.

[Overdose Prevention Initiative @ActionForOD]

Naloxone only works if someone is there to use it. The hardest deaths to prevent are the private ones, where there's no bystander and no one to notice in time.

[Overdose Prevention Initiative @ActionForOD]

Most people who die of an overdose aren't in a stadium or a library. They're at home, and often alone. A naloxone box bolted to a wall in a public building was never going to reach them.

[Overdose Prevention Initiative @ActionForOD]

New @BMJ_Open review: the 2016 CDC opioid prescribing guideline drove broad prescribing reductions. What did we learn? That stewardship cannot become treatment restriction. MOUD needs safeguards, not blunt limits.
https://t.co/kLBClYR21A

[Overdose Prevention Initiative @ActionForOD]

Medicaid work requirements are looming, and Georgia is a warning. New @JAMANetworkOpen research linked its Pathways program to 4 more poor mental health days per month and an increase in depressive disorder. Coverage rules should not destabilize care.
https://t.co/G5LKJiBrL4

[Overdose Prevention Initiative @ActionForOD]

The Transitional Reentry Health Act would help people leave jail or prison with Medicaid coverage in place, not paperwork standing between them and care.

Continuity after release saves lives, especially for people with SUD. @lac_news

https://t.co/QUJKKRuH73

[Overdose Prevention Initiative @ActionForOD]

We are excited to follow the games. We encourage all host cities and communities to create overdose response safety measures on and off the pitch. Saving lives is the goal before and after the whistle blows! https://t.co/t4Tf17zEy4

[U.S. Department of Commerce @CommerceGov]

The 2026 FIFA World Cup is being played right here in America.

Secretary Lutnick and FIFA President Gianni Infantino are excited to welcome fans to 78 matches across 11 U.S. host cities in 9 states.

[Overdose Prevention Initiative @ActionForOD]

New @JAMAPsych research reinforces what treatment policy should already know: progress is not measured only by abstinence.

In 12 trials for stimulant use disorder, reduced use may capture clinically relevant signals that abstinence-only outcomes miss.

https://t.co/JEvzWrHJFJ

[SAMHSA @samhsagov]

Available Now: SAMHSA’s report and webinar on Revised Regulations for Opioid Treatment Programs: Establishing a Baseline to Measure Progress Over Time. Learn more at https://t.co/Bwc3vACnDP

[Overdose Prevention Initiative @ActionForOD]

New Medicaid work rule: a substance use disorder can exempt you from the 80-hour requirement, and you do NOT have to be in treatment to qualify. The people most at risk are those who were never diagnosed. Public comment to CMS is open through July 31.

[MedicaidGov @MedicaidGov]

CMS launched a nationwide framework to implement Medicaid work requirements, providing states with clear guidance while promoting employment, economic mobility, and opportunity for eligible adults. https://t.co/4M0rGLR5c1