Opioids
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Local Public Health Guide to Spending Opioid Settlement Funds
This webpage was developed to be a resource for local public health as they convene stakeholders around settlement fund decisions and implement strategies to abate the harms of the overdose epidemic.
MDH plans on updating this webpage continually with new resources and content. Please send your feedback or content ideas to Thomas.lyden@state.mn.us or Will.Beaton@state.mn.us.
Framework for spending funds
Minnesota has the chance to use settlement funds to save lives and mitigate lifelong harms from drug misuse. To do this, settlement funds should be spent on effective interventions that are based on evidence. Settlement funds present a critical opportunity to work in synergy with other available resources. Maximizing the impact of the settlement funds will require coordination and thoughtful utilization. Below are resources to guide your community in deciding how best to allocate the dollars your community receives in order to maximize its impact.
Johns Hopkins Principles for the Use of Funds from the Opioid Litigation provides five overarching principles that should be adopted to make sure that funds are spent most effectively:
- Spend the money to save lives
- Use evidence to guide spending
- Invest in youth prevention;
- Focus on racial equity
- Develop a fair and transparent process for deciding where to spend funds
Consider the RAND Helpful Hints for Avoiding Pitfalls and their four takeaways for effectively spending funds in order to maximize impact and avoid ineffective spending of settlement dollars.
The Colorado Opioid Crisis Response Blueprint provides a guide for prioritizing needs and getting buy-in from stakeholders. The blueprint can be adapted for use in local communities.
The Association of Minnesota Counties Opioid Settlement Toolkit provides Minnesota-specific information about the settlement agreement.;
The Strategic Prevention Framework developed by SAMHSA, provides steps that communities may find helpful as they make decisions about how to spend settlement funds. Decision-making groups should go through the framework’s five steps and ask themselves the corresponding questions. The five steps are:
- Assessment: Identify local needs based on data. What is the problem?
- Capacity: Build off local resources and readiness to address needs. What do we have to work with?
- Planning: Find out what works to address the identified needs and how to do it well. What should we do and how should we do it?
- Implementation: Deliver evidence-based programs and practices as intended. How can we put our plan into action?
- Evaluation: Examine the process and outcomes of programs and practices. Is our plan succeeding?
The framework is guided by two cross-cutting principles that should be integrated into each step: cultural competence and sustainability. When deciding what strategies to fund with settlement dollars, communities should also consider the strategy’s evidence of effectiveness, conceptual fit, and practical fit.
- Evidence of effectiveness is the proof that a strategy will address the factors it is meant to address.
- Conceptual fit is the degree to which a strategy addresses the priority factors driving substance use or overdose and has been shown to have positive outcomes for the focus population.
- Practical fit is the degree to which a strategy is culturally relevant for the focus population, the community has the capacity to support it, and it enhances existing prevention activities.
Data sources
There are several data sources that can inform your decisions on how to spend your community’s settlement funds. Below is a list of data sources to consider using to assess your community’s needs. Try to use as many data sources as possible to get a more comprehensive picture of overdose and substance use in your community.
- Death certificates
- State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System (SUDORS)
- Hospital discharge data (I.e., emergency department visits and inpatient hospitalizations)
- Ambulance runs
- Treatment admissions
- Law enforcement Record Management System (RMS)
- Drug seizures
- Minnesota Student Survey
Data resources
Below is a list of data reports and resources that can help you obtain data for your community.
- Use the Drug Overdose Data Request form to request fatal or non-fatal overdose data for your community from the Minnesota Department of Health.
- County Profiles
- Substance Use in Minnesota(SUMN)
- Drug Overdose Dashboard
- Non-Fatal Opioid Overdose Surveillance Dashboard (EMS data)
- Overdose Detection Mapping Application (ODMAP)
- Minnesota Drug Overdose and Substance Use Surveillance Activity(MNDOSA)
- Race Rate Disparities;
Resources for implementing strategies
This section is meant to be used alongside Exhibit A of the Minnesota Opioid Memorandum of Agreement (PDF). The agreement provides 13 categories of strategies (A through M) that communities can implement using opioid settlement funds as well as a list of specific examples of strategies that fall under the category. Below you will find the same list of categories (A through M) with resources that can assist with implementation of strategies that fall under that category.
Strategy categories
What is this strategy?
Support treatment of Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) and any co-occurring substance use disorder (SUD) or mental health conditions through evidence-based or evidence-informed programs. This includes Medications for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD). The Food and Drug Administration has approved three medications for MOUD: buprenorphine, methadone, and naltrexone. These medications are safe to use for months, years, or a lifetime.
Why evidence-based addiction treatment?
MOUD is a highly effective treatment for OUD. The use of FDA-approved medications for OUD works to normalize brain chemistry, block the euphoric effects of opioids, relieve cravings, and normalize body functions. MOUD has been shown to reduce overdose deaths, HIV and hepatitis C, illicit opioid use, and criminal activity among people with SUD and to increase retention in treatment and ability to gain and maintain employment.
Resources to help understand and implement this strategy
- Abatement Report: Chapter Two Treatment Components (PDF)
- Primer on Spending Funds from the Opioid Litigation (PDF): Core Strategy 2 Increase use of medications to treat opioid use disorder
- Evidence-based treatment for opioid use disorder (PDF)
- Medications for Opioid Use Disorder (PDF)
- Practical Tools for Prescribing and Promoting Buprenorphine in Primary Care Setting (PDF)
- SAMHSA Buprenorphine Quick Start Guide (PDF)
- Use of Medication-Assisted Treatment in Emergency Department (PDF)
- Treating Concurrent Substance Use Among Adults (PDF)
- Telehealth for the Treatment of Serious Mental Illness and Substance Use Disorders (PDF)
- Treatment Considerations for Youth and Young Adults with Serious Emotional disturbances and Serious Mental Illnesses and Co-Occurring Substance Use (PDF)
- Treatment for Stimulant Use Disorders (PDF)
- ASAM National Practice Guidelines for the Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder (PDF)
- Oral Health, Mental Health, and Substance Use Treatment Toolkit
- Fast Tracker for Substance Use Disorder Treatment
What is this strategy?
Support people in recovery from SUD and any co-occurring mental health conditions through evidence-based or evidence-informed programs or strategies. SAMHSA defines recovery as a process of change through which people improve their health and wellness, live self-directed lives, and strive to reach their full potential. This strategy includes funding support services such as peer recovery specialists or care navigators and supporting Recovery Community Organizations and Recovery Oriented Systems of Care. This strategy includes ensuring robust support is available by providing a full continuum of care for SUD and funding wrap-around services such as housing, transportation, education, job placement and training, and childcare. Recovery supports should be responsive to the health beliefs, and language needs of diverse people groups. It should also address diversity in how services are delivered and seek to reduce health disparities in access and outcomes.
Why treatment and recovery support services?
Recovery support services empower people who use drugs to make choices that reduce the harm of using drugs and improve their overall well-being. Anyone with SUD or co-occurring mental health conditions can recover and manage their conditions successfully. Providing services and supports that address the basic needs of people who use drugs can help make this possible. Holistic recovery support services have a strong evidence base and help individuals build the four pillars of recovery: health, home, purpose, and community.
Resources to help understand and implement this strategy
- Abatement Report: Chapter Two Treatment Components (PDF)
- Primer on Spending Funds from the Opioid Litigation (PDF): Core Strategy 5 Fund warm hand-off programs and recovery services
- Recovery and Recovery Support (web)
- Bringing Recovery Supports to Scale: Technical Assistance Center
- Establishing Peer Support Services for Overdose Response: A Toolkit for Health Departments (PDF)
- Substance Use Disorders Recovery with a Focus on Employment (PDF)
- Recovery Housing: Best Practices and Suggested Guidelines
- Recovery Housing Policy Brief (PDF)
- Peer Support Workers for those in Recovery
- Peer Recovery Center of Excellence
- Opioid Epidemic Response: Employer Toolkit
- Addressing Opioids in Your Organization: Toolkit
- PTTC Preventing and Reducing Stigma Resource Hub
What is this strategy?
Provide connections to care for people who have—or are at risk of developing—SUD and any co-occurring mental health conditions. This includes identifying SUD and other risk factors, supporting MOUD in the emergency department, and connecting individuals to services following an overdose. Peer recovery specialists are often an effective way to connect individuals to the help they need.
Why connections to care?
In 2021, 82% of overdose deaths in Minnesota had at least one opportunity for intervention prior to death. For example, 16% of decedents had a previous overdose, 10% had witnessed another person’s fatal drug use, 47% had a mental health diagnosis, and 14 % had recently been released from an institutional setting (e.g. prison/jail, psychiatric hospital, residential treatment). Connecting people to care such as harm reduction, treatment, and wrap-around services at these intervention points has the potential to save lives. Transferring care happens frequently and can be challenging for people with SUD. Building systems that ensure a seamless transition of care improves the chances of recovery. For example, this might mean a warm handoff from emergency medical care to a SUD treatment provider or harm reduction resources in the community following a non-fatal overdose.
Resources to help understand and implement this strategy
- Primer on Spending Funds from the Opioid Litigation: Core Strategy 5 Fund warm hand-off programs and recovery services (PDF)
- Linking People with Opioid Use Disorder to Medication Treatment: a technical package of policy, programs, and practices (PDF)
- Overdose Response and Linkage to Care: A roadmap for Health Departments
- Addressing Opioids in Your Organization: Toolkit
- Peer Support Workers for those in Recovery
- Peer Recovery Center of Excellence
- Now What? The Role of Prevention Following a Nonfatal Opioid Overdose (PDF)
- Post-Overdose Outreach Process for Fire and EMS
What is this strategy?
Address the needs of persons with SUD and any co-occurring mental health conditions who are involved in, are at risk of becoming involved in, or are transitioning out of the criminal justice system. This includes supporting diversion and deflection programs that reroute people out of the criminal justice system and into treatment, providing MOUD to individuals with OUD in jail, and connecting individuals leaving jail to MOUD, harm reduction, and wrap-around services in the community.
Why address the needs of criminal justice-involved persons?
Diversion and deflection programs provide people with mental health conditions and SUD with an alternative that addresses the health and wellbeing of the individual rather than punishing them for the symptoms of their disease. These programs also benefit corrections staff by directing individuals with complex needs to providers that can better address their mental and chemical health needs.
Meeting the needs of individuals with SUD in jails is also critical to reducing overdose deaths. The risk of overdose in the first two weeks following release is nearly 40 times higher among formerly incarcerated individuals compared to the general public. Providing MOUD in jail is highly effective. Research shows it reduces the risk of death following incarceration by 75% and reduces the risk of death from overdose by 85% in the first month following release. Further, treatment with methadone or buprenorphine is shown to lower rates of re-arrest and reincarceration.
Resources to help understand and implement this strategy
- Abatement Report: Chapter 4 Care for Opioid Use Disorder in the Criminal Justice System (PDF)
- Primer on Spending Funds from the Opioid Litigation (PDF): Core Strategy 6 Improve treatment in jails and prisons
- Use of Medication-Assisted Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder in Criminal Justice Settings (PDF)
- Breaking the Cycle: Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) in the Criminal Justice System
- Jail-Based MAT: Promising Practices, Guidelines and Resources
- Screening and Assessment of Co-Occurring Disorders in the Justice System (PDF)
- Medication Assisted Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder in Jails and Prisons: A Planning and Implementation Toolkit
- Guidelines for Managing Substance Withdrawal in Jails
- Reentry Toolkit
- Tailoring Crisis Response and Pre-Arrest Diversion Models for Rural Communities
- PAARI ANGEL Initiative Resources
- D.A.R.T. (Drug Abuse Response Team)
- Naloxone Plus Framework
- Saving a Life Twice—The Naloxone Plus Solution to Reducing Overdoses and Connecting to Treatment (webinar)
- Law Enforcement/First Responder Diversion (PDF)
- Law Enforcement and First Responder Diversion: Pathways to Diversion Case Studies Series (PDF)
- Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) National Support Bureau
- First Responder Deflection Resource Library
- The Deflection and Pre-arrest Diversion (DPAD) to Prevent Opioid Overdose Tools and Resources Package
- Five Steps to Effective Integration of Peer Recovery Support Services in the Criminal Justice System (PDF)
- Substance Use Disorder Treatment
- Overdose Education and Naloxone Distribution
- Re-entry and Linkage to Care
What is this strategy?
Address the needs of the perinatal population and caregivers with SUD and any co-occurring mental health conditions, and the needs of their families, including babies with neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS). This includes providing MOUD and recovery services and supports to the perinatal population, education and support to families affected by NOWs, and trauma-informed services to reduce the negative impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs).
Why address the needs of the perinatal population, caregivers, and families?
The use of buprenorphine or methadone is the evidence-based standard of care for treatment of pregnant and post-partum women with OUD. While infants may develop NOWs from buprenorphine and methadone, providing MOUD for pregnant women improves outcomes for both the mother and the baby by mitigating the risk of relapse, overdose, and other severe impacts associated with OUD. A diagnosis of NOWs does not imply harm and should not be used to assess child social welfare risk or to punish the mother. Many children with in-utero opioid exposure have normal development. Evidence-based care and supportive services help these children, and their families reach their potential.
Resources to help understand and implement this strategy
- Abatement Report: Chapter 5 Prevention of Opioid Misuse and Its Harmful Effects on Children and Families (PDF)
- Primer on Spending Funds from the Opioid Litigation (PDF)
- Core Strategy 3: Provide treatment and supports during pregnancy and the postpartum period
- Core Strategy 4: Expand services for neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome
- HRSA’s Home Visiting Program: Supporting Families Impacted by Opioid Use and Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (PDF)
- Opioid Addiction Treatment: A Guide for Patients, Families, and Friends
- Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder Before, During, and After Pregnancy
- Clinical Guidance for Treating Pregnant and Parenting Women with Opioid Use Disorder and Their Infants (PDF)
- National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare Resource Center
- Minnesota Perinatal Quality Collaborative: Mother/Infant Opioid Substance Use Treatment and Recovery Effort (MOSTaRE)
- Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome in Minnesota
What is this strategy?
Support efforts to prevent over-prescribing and ensure appropriate prescribing and dispensing of opioids. This includes efforts to educate and train healthcare providers, support non-opioid treatment alternatives, and improve the use of the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP).
Why promote appropriate prescribing of opioids?
The current overdose epidemic is thought to have begun with excessive prescribing of opioids. Progress has been made in reducing the inappropriate prescribing of opioids. For example, in Minnesota, the number of opioids reported as dispensed has steadily decreased every year since 2015. However, the reduction in excessive opioid prescribing has coincided with an increase in people turning to the illicit market for opioids. Appropriate prescribing and dispensing of opioids help to ensure that people are tapered safely and get the care they need.
Resources to help understand and implement this strategy
- A Team-Based Approach to Improving Opioid Management in Primary Care
- Opioid Prescribing Resources
- CDC Clinical Practice Guidelines for Prescribing Opioids for Pain Toolkit
- Minnesota Non-narcotic Pain Management Mapping and Demonstration Projects
- Minnesota Non-Opioid Pain Alleviation Information Network
- Prescribing Practices: Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP/PDMP)
- Flip the Script Provider Education Resources
- Electronic Prescribing in Minnesota
What is this strategy?
Support efforts to prevent substance misuse through public education campaigns and evidence-based youth primary prevention programs. Jurisdictions should be cautious of funding prevention programs that do not have evidence supporting their effectiveness. Several resources are available to help jurisdictions select evidence-based programs that are likely to be effective.
Why primary prevention?
Preventing future drug use and misuse is critical to curbing the overdose epidemic. Effective prevention strategies promote positive youth development and resilience while mitigating risk factors. Such programs help protect against a range of negative outcomes in addition to substance use, such as mental health problems, school drop-out, and involvement with the juvenile justice system. Primary prevention is cost-effective. Investing in effective prevention strategies is estimated to save between $2-$20 for every $1 spent.
Resources to help understand and implement this strategy
- Primer on Spending Funds from the Opioid Litigation: Core Strategy 7 Enrich prevention strategies
- Substance Misuse Prevention for Young Adults
- Selecting Best-fit Programs and Practices: Guidance for Substance Misuse Prevention Practitioners
- Strategic Prevention Framework
- Safe Schools Healthy Students Framework Implementation Toolkit
- Blueprints: Registry of evidence-based programs for healthy youth development
- Trauma Sensitive Schools Training Package: Implementation Guide
- Preventing Adverse Childhood Experiences: leveraging the best available evidence
- CDC Stop Overdose Education Campaign
- Facing Fentanyl Toolbox
- DEA One Pill Can Kill Toolbox
- Know the Dangers Naloxone Finder Map
- Know the Dangers Pintables and Downloads
- Youth Fentanyl Awareness Social Media Toolkit
What is this strategy?
Support efforts to prevent or reduce overdose deaths or other substance use-related harms. This includes increasing the availability of naloxone and fentanyl test strips, supporting and expanding syringe service programs, infectious disease testing, and increasing awareness of the Good Samaritan Law.
Why harm reduction?
Harm reduction is a critical component of addressing the overdose epidemic. Syringe Service Programs, sometimes referred to as SSPs, are an integral component of harm reduction strategies. Decades of research show that SSPs are safe, effective, cost-saving, and do not increase illegal drug use or crime. They are shown to be associated with a reduction in HIV and hepatitis C incidence and an increase in entry to drug treatment and likelihood of stopping drug use. Other evidence-based harm reduction services include providing supplies for safer consumption of drugs, providing naloxone and fentanyl test strips, and overdose prevention sites. Harm reduction approaches empower people who use drugs to make positive changes that can improve their health and reduce the risks of drug use.
Resources to help understand and implement this strategy
- Abatement Report: Chapter 3 Harm Reduction
- Primer on Spending Funds from the Opioid Litigation
- Core Strategy 1: Broaden access to naloxone
- Core Strategy 8: Expand harm reduction programs
- Street and Mobile Outreach Technical Assistance and Training Guide
- Prevention and Treatment of HIV Among People Living with Substance Use and/or Mental Disorders
- Syringe Service Programs (SSPs) Fact Sheet
- Establishing Syringe Service Programs in Rural America
- A Guide to Establishing Syringe Service Programs in Rural, At-risk Areas
- Syringe Service Programs: A Technical Package of Effective Strategies and Approaches for Planning, Design, and Implementation
- CDC Syringe Service Programs Resource Hub
- CDC National Harm Reduction Technical Assistance Center
- Harm Reduction Resource Center
- Steve Rummler Hope Network Naloxone in Schools Toolkit
- Naloxone Prescribing and Dispensing in Minnesota
- Minnesota Board of Pharmacy Naloxone Prescribing and Dispensing FAQs
- Naloxone in Minnesota
- Fentanyl Test Strip Fact Sheet
- SSPs in Minnesota
What is this strategy?
In addition to items in section C, D and H relating to first responders, support first responders in response to the overdose epidemic. Strategies should be selected that will have the best chances of preventing overdoses and harms related to substance use.
Why support for first responders?
First responders are on the front lines of the overdose epidemic. As such, they have the opportunity to save more lives by providing naloxone and connections to care following an overdose. On the front lines, first responders may also experience compassion fatigue. Compassion fatigue is an extreme mental state characterized by burnout and secondary trauma. First responder wellness and work-life balance should be promoted in order to mitigate the impacts of compassion fatigue.
Resources to help understand and implement this strategy
- Law Enforcement Naloxone Toolkit
- Steve Rummler Naloxone for Law Enforcement Toolkit
- First Responder/Law Enforcement Strategies: Supporting Overdose Survivors and Their Families (Webinar)
- Post-Overdose Outreach Process for Fire and EMS
- Understanding Compassion Fatigue for First Responders and Criminal Justice Professionals
- First Responder Compassion Fatigue
What is this strategy?
Support efforts to provide leadership, planning, coordination, facilitations, training, and technical assistance to abate the opioid epidemic. Opioid settlement funds provide the opportunity to build off existing overdose prevention efforts and collaborate across sectors in order to have maximum impact.
Why leadership, planning, and coordination?
Planning and coordination allows people in the community, including those with lived experience, to provide input on the development of overdose abatement plans which helps to ensure that plans are well suited to meet the needs of the community. By understanding community needs and coordinating with key partners, jurisdictions can help ensure that limited resources are maximized, and services are not duplicated.
Resources to help understand and implement this strategy
What is this strategy?
In addition to the training referred to throughout Exhibit A, support training to abate the opioid epidemic. This includes staff training or networking programs that improve the capability of organizations to abate the overdose epidemic and supporting infrastructure for cross-systems coordination to prevent overdoses and related harms.
Why training?
Increasing collaboration and coordination among different sectors is crucial to reducing overdose deaths and preventing substance use-related harms.
Resources to help understand and implement this strategy
What is this strategy?
This strategy includes data collection, epidemiological monitoring and surveillance, and evaluation of opioid abatement strategies. It also includes research on non-opioid treatment of chronic pain and novel harm reduction efforts such as fentanyl test strips.
Why research?
Quality data is crucial to understanding and intervening in the overdose epidemic. As abatement strategies are implemented using settlement funds, it is important that they are evaluated to ensure that funds are achieving their intended impact.
Resources to help understand and implement this strategy
- Abatement Report: Chapter 6 Data Infrastructure
- Primer on Spending Funds from the Opioid Litigation: Core Strategy 9 Support data collection and research
- A Quick Guide to Successful Data Partnerships
- Basic Drug Use Epidemiology Guide
What is this strategy?
Support strategies related to the post-mortem period such as toxicology testing, autopsies, death investigations, and overdose fatality reviews. This strategy also includes connecting individuals who may have SUD that interact with the medical examiner’s office to care and services.
Why post-mortem strategies?
Toxicology testing, autopsies, and death investigations are important for accurately tracking and identifying overdose cases and emerging substances in the drug supply. Overdose fatality review teams are made up of professionals from various sectors. Teams do a “social autopsy” of the decedent in order to identify system gaps and missed opportunities for intervention. Teams then come up with and implement recommendations that prevent future fatal overdoses.
Resources to help understand and implement this strategy
- Overdose Fatality Review Resource Hub
- Difficult Conversations: A guide for funeral directors addressing deaths by drug overdose
- MN Coroners’ and Medical Examiners’ Association
Updated 03/13/2023