This is a report from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network that explores the relationship between childhood exposure to traumatic events and a variety of substance use-related behaviors as well as the impact of the opioid crisis on children and families. Recommendations related to prevention and treatment are made and resources are provided. 

This study examined the relationship between illicit drug use and 10 categories of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and total number of ACEs (ACE score). The ACE score had a strong graded relationship to the risk of drug initiation from early adolescence into adulthood and to problems with drug use, drug addiction, and parenteral use.

The persistent graded relationship between the ACE score and initiation of drug use for 4 successive birth cohorts dating back to 1900 suggests that the effects of adverse childhood experiences transcend secular changes such as increased availability of drugs, social attitudes toward drugs, and recent massive expenditures and public information campaigns to prevent drug use.

This is an academic paper that interviewed providers to better understand the role that hospitals have played in the opioid crisis. In addition to reported settings where opioids have been overprescribed, the clinicians recommended that hospitals respond to the opioid crisis through patient education, provider education, and strengthening the hospital leadership efforts to decrease inappropriate opioid use.

A two-page resource from the CMS with opioid oral morphine milligram equivalent (MME) conversion factors for a wide range of prescription opioids.

This report details recommendations for the US government on how to optimize mandatory and discretionary spending on opioid related population health outcomes. The author's recommendations fall under the four categories of mandatory spending, discretionary spending, data and metrics, and governance. 

This report outlines the impact of synthetic opioid trafficking from the individual and economic perspective. The authors provide several suggestions on next steps the U.S government can take as well as relevant data to support these points. The five main pillars of this outline are policy coordination and implementation, supply reduction, demand reduction through public health methods, international cooperation, as well as research and monitoring. 

This report from the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) presents the study results of interviews and focus groups to explore how the opioid crisis is uniquely affecting diverse Appalachian communities, and to identify effective content and messaging strategies that Appalachian community-based organizations can use to support opioid misuse prevention, treatment, and recovery

After describing the key findings of the impact of the opioid crisis on Appalachian communities and attitudes towards people with opioid use disorder (OUD), the report provides specific communication strategies that communities can use to educate the general public, reduce stigma, and prevent opioid misuse and OUD. 

This paper summarizes community forums that were held at nine locations throughout rural northeast Minnesota from October 2015 through March 2018. Each forum was planned by a university researcher and a planning team composed of community leaders and local public health officials and included a variety of professional speakers from health care, public health, law enforcement, and treatment and recovery, as well as individuals from the community who shared their own personal stories of addiction and recovery.

The different ingredients of a successful forum that increased community collaboration are discussed within this document. 

This is a presentation from the South East Area Health Education Center (SEAHEC) in Wilmington, NC that describes the collaborative nature of the community opioid response in this area. There is specific focus on the different types of stakeholders involved. 

This is an academic paper that describes community meetings held in a rural area of Oklahoma to address to the opioid crisis. Surveys showed that holding group discussions and listening to experts may increase engagement of the community in a response, with priorities being access to treatment and youth-based prevention. 

This is an academic paper that assessed community readiness in counties in North Carolina and its relationship to county-level opioid-related mortality and morbidity. Community readiness has been linked to collective action from communities to implement comprehensive responses to the public health issue. Findings indicate that counties with higher opioid-related mortality also had higher community readiness. 

This is a report from the National Prevention Science Coalition that highlights the importance of prevention strategies in addressing the opioid crisis and outlines a national blueprint to guide public health policies and prevention services to help individuals, their families, and communities. Community-based and school-based prevention interventions are discussed that can increase protective factors, decrease risk factors, and address adverse childhood experiences.