Claire Fiddian-Green is the President & CEO of the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation. There are many important efforts underway across Indiana to tackle the opioid epidemic. Stakeholders in the public, private and non-profit sectors – first responders, health systems, government agencies, employers and others – are allocating significant resources to help Hoosiers struggling with addiction find effective treatment, to help family members impacted by a loved-one’s addiction receive support and services, to make it harder for people to access opioids illegally, and to reduce the negative health consequences often associated with addiction. Most of these efforts are focused on addressing the challenges that occur when someone has already become addicted […]

Alex Cohen is the Director of Learning and Evaluation for the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation. In Indiana and across the United States, the opioid epidemic continues, with drug overdose deaths involving opioids exceeding 47,000 nationwide in 2017. To help stem the tide, the federal government allocated $11 billion to states in fiscal years 2017 and 2018, according to a recently released report from the Bipartisan Policy Center. In Indiana, which received $159 million in federal opioid funding, this funding has been deployed by the state to strengthen prevention, treatment and recovery efforts and to support research and programs in the criminal justice system. At first glance, Indiana’s portion of federal […]