University of Alabama team wins $1 million grant to develop tool to combat opioid epidemic
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Across the country, opioid abuse has reached epidemic levels, severely affecting communities and straining public safety resources. The Institute of Business Analytics, or IBA, a research unit at the University of Alabama’s Culverhouse College of Business, has received an approximate $1 million grant from the Office of Justice Programs at the Justice Department to develop a data-driven tool to help officials better understand the scope of the opioid epidemic in Alabama and how to intelligently allocate resources. The University of Alabama team, which consists of principal investigators Drs. Matthew Hudnall, Jason Parton and Dwight Lewis, will develop the Unified Nexus for Leveraging Opioid Crime Knowledge, or UNLOCK, system that pulls in data from multiple sources and analyzes it using high-powered computing techniques to create reports that will assist field officers, law enforcement administrators, prosecutors, community affiliates, public health providers and researchers in their work combating the abuse of opioids in Alabama. “Critical data about the opioid epidemic comes from a multitude of sources including public health entities, law enforcement and municipalities,” said Hudnall, associate director of the IBA. “UNLOCK brings those data together to create intelligent, actionable recommendations that end users can deploy in their work fighting opioid abuse.” The data that UNLOCK will use includes summarized toxicology information, evidence test results, coroner death report information and other geo-referenced data. This award was made as the result of a highly competitive grant solicitation issued by Office of Justice Programs in the spring titled “Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Site-based Program” that resulted in 46 awards nationwide. “Many of us are very aware of the ways that the opioid crisis has negatively impacted communities and families across the state,” said Parton, director of IBA. “My team and I are excited about the promise of UNLOCK as a tool to counter the crisis.” This story originally appeared on the University of Alabama’s website. Republished with permission from the Alabama NewsCenter.
Steve Marshall praises Donald Trump’s opioid abuse initiative
President Donald Trump on Monday announced a new initiative to stop opioid abuse and to reduce the drugs supply and demand. The president’s list of requirements for this initiative include: Reduce the over-prescription of opioids which has the potential to lead Americans down a path to addiction or facilitate diversion to illicit use. Cut off the flow of illicit drugs across our borders and within communities. Save lives now by expanding opportunities for proven treatments for opioid and other drug addictions. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall praised Trump’s initiative in a statement on Tuesday: I want to thank President Trump for his dedication to fight the terrible blight of opioid abuse in America. Opioid abuse is an epidemic that ignores cultural and political boundaries; it affects all of us—and thus demands a response that includes all of us. While I am still reviewing the specifics of President Trump’s initiative, I am heartened to see that his outline includes many of the recommendations of Alabama’s Opioid Overdose and Addiction Council; recommendations such as improved prescription monitoring, increased access to treatment and recovery support for persons suffering from opioid addiction, and legislation targeting low-dosage, super-lethal drugs like fentanyl. My hope is that, in the coming months, President Trump and Attorney General Sessions will work side-by-side with state and local officials to turn these ideas into reality. Together, we can conquer what the President has rightly called the ‘Crisis Next Door.’ In August of 2017, Gov. Kay Ivey named Marshall co-chair of the Alabama Opioid Overdose and Addiction Council. Ivey established this council to “develop and submit a strategic action plan to the Governor by December 31, 2017, which establishes recommendations for policy, regulatory and legislative actions to address the overdose crisis in Alabama. A request that was fulfilled by the council. Alabama’s plan includes four actions: Prevention Intervention Treatment Community Response Since 2016, Alabama has remained at the top of the list of states in the nation with an extremely high amount of opioid prescriptions. In fact, Alabamians receive more prescription opioids per person than residents of any other state in the country, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) — equating to a rate of 1.2 prescriptions per person. By comparison, the national per capita use was 0.71 in 2015.
