Rice County Substance Use and Overdose Profile
The purpose of this profile is to allow users to gain a better understanding of what the overdose epidemic looks like in their community and to make data-driven prevention decisions to improve health.
Having data on overdose and substance use is essential. Data can inform prevention programming, help to identify communities being impacted, drive the creation of new services, and be shared with funders to get more resources. Everyone has a role to play in reducing drug use and preventing overdoses. People living in the community, local public health, and providers can all advocate for changes and support those with substance use disorder and those in recovery.
Drug overdose is preventable. Substance use disorder is treatable and preventable, and recovery is possible.
*NOTE: Any 2020 drug overdose death data is considered preliminary and is likely to change when finalized. The 2020 data included here is indicative, not final, of 2020 drug overdose deaths.
What does the data tell us?
For any questions on county profile data, please contact a prevention staff member at health.drugodprev@state.mn.us.
Prevention action steps and resources
- Learn the language of substance use disorder and practice using words that can reduce stigma.
- Support those in your life that might be impacted by substance use disorder and opioid use disorder or are in recovery by being non-judgmental and listening.
- Join a community task force that is focusing on improving access to drug treatment, harm reduction services, or other social services necessary for recovery like housing and employment opportunities.
- Learn about how substance use is influenced by many different factors by reading about the social determinants of substance use & overdose prevention.
- Complete a Naloxone (also called Narcan) training and carry Naloxone, a drug that can be used to reverse an overdose. The following organizations offer Naloxone trainings:
- Find naloxone near you using the Naloxone Finder map.
- Explore funding opportunities to increase capacity to monitor substance use in your community and fund prevention programming.
- Subscribe to the MDH Opioid Overdose Prevention e-mail list to get regular updates on data, programming, research, and funding opportunities.
- Lead a community task force focused on reducing substance use and overdose in your community.
- Provide regular Naloxone trainings to the community.
- Become knowledgeable of local prevention work. Connecting with Rice County Public Health and with the Southeast regional prevention coordinator is a great place to start.
- Support patients exploring alternative pain management methods and reduce opiate prescriptions.
- Review the Minnesota chronic pain opioid prescribing recommendations.
- Prescribe naloxone to all patients that are also prescribed or are using opioids.
- Become a buprenorphine waivered practitioner to provide medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) to patients.
- Learn about the TOWN model, developed by CHI St. Gabriel’s, that can support people who use drugs or people in recovery.
Data Limitations
For example, in some small counties, there could be a year without any fatal opioid overdoses and very few nonfatal overdoses. These small numbers do not tell us that substance use is not an issue in this county. There are many other negative health effects from using substances that are not collected as data points, such as having trouble maintaining a job, safe housing, or relationships with family and friends. For more detail on data limitations, please review the Drug Overdose Data Sources webpage.
For more detail on data limitations, please review the Drug Overdose Data Sources webpage.
Where can I find more county data?
- Minnesota Injury Data Access System (MIDAS)
Injury and violence data for Minnesotans by county, type of injury, gender, timeframe, and other factors - Substance Use in Minnesota (SUMN)
Minnesota data on alcohol, drugs, risk and protective factors, and mental health by region, county, and demographics - Minnesota Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP)
PMP annual reports and monthly data - Minnesota Student Survey (MSS)
Reports on student survey results from 2013, 2016, and 2019 - Statewide Data Reports published by MDH
Published reports on drug overdose deaths, nonfatal overdose, and others
MDH Supported Programming in Rice County
Currently, MDH is supporting opioid overdose prevention work done by the following organizations:
- Overdose Fatality Reviews in the Southeast Emergency Medical Services region
For more information on MDH funded-programming, review the MDH Response to Substance Use and Overdose Across Minnesota webpage.
Please visit the Opioid Dashboard for more information on opioid overdose death, nonfatal overdose, use, misuse, substance use disorder, prescribing practices, supply, diversion, harm reduction, co-occurring conditions, and social determinants of health.