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Work by an IU McKinney team of researchers in the first stage of their research project on “Legal and Policy Best Practices in Response to the Opioid Epidemic,” is earning media attention in Indiana and beyond.

The IU McKinney research project is part of IU's $50 million commitment to prevent, reduce and treat addictions in Indiana. The team’s recently-released preliminary report details findings from a qualitative study involving key stakeholders, together with original evidence-based research designed to reduce barriers to effective harm reduction and treatment interventions to the opioids crisis.

The story has been covered by The Indianapolis Star, Inside Indiana Business, the Washington Times Herald, Indiana Public Media, the Logansport Pharos-Tribune, and the Oskaloosa (Iowa) Herald.

The research team identified a broad range of legal and policy impediments to effective substance use interventions. The team’s recommendations included improvements to Indiana legislation impacting harm reduction, reforms and improvements in access to and financing of healthcare interventions, the encouragement of improved education and stigma reduction, and proposed an immediate commitment to using any sums recovered in the ongoing litigation against drug companies for treatment and other opioid-related uses.

The team includes Professor Nicolas P. Terry, Hall Render Professor of Law and Executive Director of the Hall Center for Law and Health at IU McKinney; Professor Ross Silverman, Professor of Health Policy and Management at the IU Fairbanks School of Public Health, and Professor of Public Health and Law at IU McKinney; Professor Aila Hoss, Visiting Assistant Professor and IU Grand Challenge Fellow at IU McKinney School of Law; and Rebecca Critser, a JD/MA Candidate 2018 at IU McKinney.