BY: ASHLEY MURRAY
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers should view America’s staggering opioid crisis, including the rise of illicit fentanyl, through an “ecosystems” approach, argues a massive RAND Corporation report published last week.
That means they should examine the gaps and interconnections among emergency response, data collection, education, treatment, housing and law enforcement, the report advises.
The 600-page volume — which the authors describe as “arguably the most comprehensive analysis of opioids in 21st century America” — encourages federal, state and local lawmakers to think “beyond traditional silos” and innovate ways to stem adverse effects of addiction and increasing drug overdose deaths among Americans.
“There have been lots of initiatives and efforts to try to address it, but when we looked around, the majority, not all but the majority, seemed to fall in the silos — like, ‘We’re going to improve treatment,’ or ‘We’re going to focus on harm reduction,’ or ‘We’re going to decrease illicit use and try to decrease supply,’” said Bradley Stein, Director of RAND’s Opioid Policies, Tools, and Information Center.
RAND, headquartered in Santa Monica, California, is a nonprofit organization that focuses on several areas, including the U.S. military, education, national security and health care.
“One of the things we did was sort of step back and say, ‘Are there opportunities sort of between these systems, between the silos? And so thinking about it more as an ecosystem or more holistically, are there things and opportunities that we may be overlooking?’” Stein, one of the authors who is based in RAND’s Pittsburgh offices, told States Newsroom.