Alex Cohen is the Director of Learning and Evaluation for the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation. In 2017, more than 1,700 people died of a drug overdose in Indiana—an all-time high. This surge in overdose deaths has been driven by opioids, which now account for more than 80% of overdose deaths. Along with effective substance use prevention and harm reduction strategies, properly addressing the opioid epidemic requires ensuring access to effective treatment for individuals with opioid use disorder. That includes those in the criminal justice system. A large share of individuals in prisons and jails have misused opioids, and it’s estimated that 24%-36% of all heroin addicts pass through the criminal justice system each […]

The decline in Indiana’s infant mortality rate is encouraging, but we can’t stop here. Stakeholders across all sectors must play a role in significantly improving Hoosier health outcomes.