The CT ORS Team, along with local Drug Free Communities (DFC) coalitions and Regional Behavioral Health Action Organizations, collaborated to develop a Counterfeit Pill Awareness campaign for youth, young adults and parents. The campaign is called You Think You Know, and includes a website, multiple social media platforms, bus ads, billboards and printed materials, featuring the key message ‘it only takes one pill’. The website shares information about prevention resources and local treatment and recovery supports for substance use and mental health.

The campaign launched in mid-September 2021. Bobby Lawlor (DIO) and Anna Gasinski (PHA) were interviewed on TV by NBC Connecticut and discussed the dangers of counterfeit pills and the launch of the campaign. The campaign has been promoted throughout Connecticut at recent conferences, numerous media outlets, and on social media with positive feedback. Recently, the You Think You Know campaign won a GOLD MarCom Award, an international creative marketing competition that recognizes outstanding achievement by marketing and communication professionals.

Bobby and Anna’s combined expertise contributed to an accurate campaign about the dangers in the illicit drug market in CT that would resonate with youth and parents. Anna used her relationship with DFC coalitions in the state to focus test the messaging in the campaign prior to a state-wide launch, and finally the CT ORS team provided data and materials that are used in the campaign. The success of this campaign is a shining example of the importance of the DIO and PHA partnership and the Overdose Response Strategy.

Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra announced the release of the new HHS Overdose Prevention Strategy, designed to increase access to the full range of care and services for individuals who use substances that cause overdose, and their families. This new strategy focuses on the multiple substances involved in overdose and the diverse treatment approaches for substance use disorder.

The new strategy prioritizes four key target areas—primary prevention, harm reduction, evidence-based treatment, and recovery support—and reflects the Biden-Harris Administration principles of maximizing health equity for underserved populations, using best available data and evidence to inform policy and actions, integrating substance use disorder services into other types of health care and social services, and reducing stigma.

In October the 2021 HIDTA Prevention Summit, organized by the Washington/Baltimore HIDTA, provided registrants with the opportunity to learn the latest advances in the field and essentials ways of thinking about approaching prevention for maximizing successful outcomes.

Summit goals included:

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is extending the methadone take-home flexibilities for one year, effective upon the eventual expiration of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. This exemption is a continuation of the take-home medication flexibilities that SAMHSA put in place in March 2020 and is in keeping with the newly announced Health and Human Services (HHS) Overdose Prevention Strategy. SAMHSA is also considering mechanisms to make this flexibility permanent.

Starting this month, we will share CDC's COVID-19 primary prevention messages specific to persons who use drugs or have a substance use disorder (PWUD/SUD) in our various ORS communication materials. These COVID-19 primary prevention messages seek to spark conversations about how our state and local public health partners could reduce transmission of the virus that causes COVID-19 among PWUD/SUD. Below are CDC's COVID-19 primary prevention messages for November 2021. As ORS support teams, we encourage you to sure to talk about these messages with your partners on at least one call during the last months of 2021. Please contact Tiana Conner, ORS Communications Coordinator, with any questions (tconner@cdcfoundation.org). Below is a recording of a webinar about how COVID-19 uniquely impacts PWUD/SUD.

The National Council for Mental Wellbeing, with support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), developed a package of resources to support the adoption and implementation of DPAD programs to better support people at risk of opioid overdose. These resources were informed by real-world experiences shared through a series of key informant interviews and an Experts’ Roundtable with diverse stakeholders implementing DPAD programs across the country.

To identify the extent of public safety-led overdose prevention efforts and corollary training for public safety personnel that are tailored for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities, the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, with support from the CDC, conducted an environmental scan consisting of a literature review, 11 key informant interviews, and two roundtable discussions with a diverse group of individuals with experience in overdose prevention, harm reduction, or public safety.

The resource library contains a range of materials that provide examples of foundational documents that have been submitted by existing first responder deflection (FRD) programs from across the United States. These resources include documents that comprise some core elements of FRD programs, such as release of information forms, policies and procedures, program brochures, intake forms, and memoranda of understanding.

CDC Vital Statistics released a data visualization presenting provisional counts for drug overdose deaths based on a current flow of mortality data in the National Vital Statistics System. It is predicted that over 100,000 Americans died from a drug overdose in the 12 month period ending April 2021.

To address the increasing number of overdose deaths related to both prescription opioids and illicit drugs, CDC created a website to educate people who use drugs about the dangers of illicitly manufactured fentanyl, the risks and consequences of mixing drugs, the lifesaving power of naloxone, and the importance of reducing stigma around recovery and treatment options. Below are links to the individual campaign websites.

In September, CDC Division of Overdose Prevention (DOP) researchers published new data on stimulant overdoses that indicate some of the areas in which racial and ethnic minority populations in America have seen large increases in drug overdose mortality. CDC launched DOP's Health Equity website last month to showcase their work in researching and closing the gap in health disparities and promoting health equity. The site describes how health equity plays a role in ending the overdose epidemic.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has released findings from the 2020 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). The data suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact on the nation’s well-being.