Webinar: The opioid epidemic and drug checking: putting tools in the hands of experts

The lecture will provide an understanding of the current opioid epidemic and the confluences of factors that paved the way for our current state of unprecedented high rates of overdose deaths. The course will discuss and define harm reduction, and focus on one tool that is currently being employed to reduce overdose among people who use drugs (PWUD).  Ultimately, the course will discuss data from studies that demonstrate PWUDs’ ability and implementation of novel life saving methods.

Learning Objectives:

1. To learn about the phases of opioid epidemic, that resulted in the current state of a highly adulterated drug market.
2. To understand harm reduction as a holistic response to the overdose epidemic.
3. To learn about the history of drug checking, validated technologies, and the evidence that supports acceptability among people who use drugs.
4. Learn about the policy barriers and facilitators of implementing drug checking as a part of a holistic response to the opioid epidemic.