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Substance Use and Misuse in Rural Areas – Resources

Selected recent or important resources focusing on Substance Use and Misuse in Rural Areas.

NCHS Rapid Surveys System: Illegal Drugs and Naloxone (Narcan) Awareness
Interactive data showing awareness of and perspectives on access to prescription medication, illegal drugs, and naloxone. Includes data breakdown by urbanicity and other demographic and geographic characteristics. Data gathered by the National Center for Health Statistics between October and November 2023.
Date: 04/2024
Type: Chart/Graph
Sponsoring organization: National Center for Health Statistics
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Rural Mental Health: Challenges & Opportunities
Webinar recording discusses barriers to rural mental health access and offers strategies for overcoming those barriers. Presents Kansas and Missouri as examples. Details unintentional injury fatalities in metro versus nonmetro areas.
Additional links: Webinar Slides
Author(s): Angie Schindler-Berg
Date: 04/2024
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organization: Mental Health Technology Transfer Center Network
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National Strategy for Suicide Prevention
Report highlights the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) 10-year government-wide suicide prevention strategy. Features a 15-goal plan covering community-based suicide prevention; treatment and crisis services; surveillance, quality improvement, and research; and health equity in suicide prevention. Discusses rural populations and the barriers to suicide prevention in rural areas.
Additional links: Federal Action Plan
Date: 04/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
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Motivation and Context of Concurrent Stimulant and Opioid Use Among Persons Who Use Drugs in the Rural United States: A Multi-Site Qualitative Inquiry
Explores the motivation and context of stimulant and opioid use in rural America among persons who use drugs (PWUD). Utilizes participant interviews to discuss general substance use, injection drug use, changes in drug use, harm reduction practices, and more.
Author(s): R. J. Fredericksen, R. Baker, A. Sibley, et al.
Citation: Harm Reduction Journal, 21, 74
Date: 04/2024
Type: Document
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Home Cooked: A 50-Year History of Meth in America
Podcast series presents a discussion on the history of the use, production, and proliferation of methamphetamine in the U.S. The 5-episode series explores how the social perception of meth in America compares with the reality of its use throughout the 20th and 21st centuries and how this has affected rural communities.
Date: 03/2024
Type: Audio
Sponsoring organizations: Rural Assembly, The Daily Yonder
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Home Cooked: A 50-Year History of Meth in America - Ep. 3: Lab School
Podcast series presents a discussion on the history of the use, production, and proliferation of methamphetamine in the U.S. Episode 3 discusses the home meth lab surge in the rural Midwest and how this changed the distribution and policing of the illicit meth market.
Date: 03/2024
Type: Audio
Sponsoring organizations: Rural Assembly, The Daily Yonder
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Home Cooked: A 50-Year History of Meth in America - Ep. 2: Made in the U.S.A.
Podcast series presents a discussion on the history of the use, production, and proliferation of methamphetamine in the U.S. Episode 2 discusses the history of legal methamphetamine production and use in the 1930s and follows the drug's production and distribution post-criminalization.
Date: 03/2024
Type: Audio
Sponsoring organizations: Rural Assembly, The Daily Yonder
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Home Cooked: A 50-Year History of Meth in America - Ep. 1: Old Meth, New Meth
Podcast series presents a discussion on the history of the use, production, and proliferation of methamphetamine in the U.S. Episode 1 discusses the perception of meth as a "hillbilly drug" and how that socially constructed perception differs from the realities of meth use and production.
Date: 03/2024
Type: Audio
Sponsoring organizations: Rural Assembly, The Daily Yonder
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Evidence-Based, Whole-Person Care for Pregnant People Who Have Opioid Use Disorder
Report presents care recommendations for treatment of opioid use disorder during pregnancy. Discusses the risks of opioid use during and after pregnancy and explores factors to consider when treating pregnant people. Highlights barriers for rural patients.
Date: 03/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
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Opioid Utilization Dashboard
Interactive map details Medicare beneficiaries using opioids, medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD), and potentially dangerous combinations of other drugs with opioids by state with county-level data.
Date: 03/2024
Type: Map/Mapping System
Sponsoring organization: Quality Improvement Organization Program
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Last Updated: 4/30/2024