Public Health Meets Criminal Justice: Evidence-Based Training for Practitioners to Address the Overdose Crisis

Training is a critical tool for disseminating harm reduction principles to those addressing the overdose crisis. During this three-part session, learn more about successful evidence-based trainings for substance-use intervention, including harm reduction for law enforcement, rural strategies for addressing overdoses, investigating drug toxicity deaths for Medical Examiners and Coroners, and more.

Harm Reduction Training for Law Enforcement and Other Criminal Justice Practitioners
Dr. Brad Ray will describe an occupational safety training that educates police on local drug policy and harm reduction philosophies, who are sometimes first responders to overdose emergency calls and often equipped with naloxone. This presentation will include the process to establish the Safety & Health Integration in the Enforcement of Laws on Drugs curriculum and ongoing efforts to improve its effectiveness, which includes collaborative efforts to customize the training for other first responders and criminal justice practitioners.

Medicolegal and First Responder Training for Overdose Fatalities
Dr. Jeri Ropero-Miller will describe community-informed resources on investigating and certifying drug toxicity deaths. Attendees will learn how to communicate findings to those responding to overdose deaths—such as the medicolegal and first responder communities—to inform timely preventative public health actions. Building teamwork, surveillance, and open and active communication between scene investigators, medical examiners and coroners, toxicologists, local and federal law enforcement, and other agencies requires community-led training.

Training around Rural Strategies for Addressing Overdose
Paige Presler-Jur will discuss training and resource innovations for combatting the overdose epidemic in rural U.S. communities with an initiative to enhance the capacity of rural communities to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with opioid overdoses among individuals who intersect the criminal-legal system. With fewer resources and trainings available for stakeholders engaging in substance use services in rural America, it is critical to build networks and raise awareness of assistance available to improve the response to illicit substance use in these communities.

This Vision Session non-CME presentation is taking place during the Rx Summit. The opinions and recommendations expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of the Rx Summit, Imedex, HMP Global or HMP Education. This program is not intended or eligible for continuing education (CME/CE) credits and does not meet guidelines governing CME/CE. By entering a Vision Session and having your badge scanned, you opt-into share and receive information from industry sponsors. If you wish to opt out, please speak with a conference representative.

This Vision Session is sponsored by RTI International.