From Harm to Support: How Public Health Research is Transforming Drug Policy

Description

Established in 1974, the annual Distinguished Faculty Lecture is dedicated to acknowledging the work of our most esteemed and accomplished faculty members. The lecture series not only honors individual faculty members and their achievements, but also celebrates the values of academic excellence that we share as a community. Each honoree is presented with the Chancellor’s Medal, the highest recognition bestowed upon faculty by the campus.

The overdose epidemic is a major public health challenge of our times, worsened by decades of public policies that have harmed the most vulnerable people in our communities. Massachusetts has taken a remarkable public health approach to confront the problem. In this talk, Professor Elizabeth Evans will highlight how her research on justice-involved people who use drugs helped advance understanding of the benefits of investing in treatment instead of punishment. She will present results from her Massachusetts Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network (MassJCOIN) project in which she studied the implementation, outcomes, and costs of a legislative mandate requiring Massachusetts jails to offer treatment for opioid use disorder during incarceration and linkage to care post-release. She will end by sharing how inclusive partnerships—involving people with lived experiences of drug use and incarceration, carceral-legal actors, health-care practitioners, and policymakers—can enrich our ability to find evidence-based solutions for better public health.