Why People Die After Drug Raids: The Link Between Drug Supply Disruption and Overdose Spikes

Dr. Jennifer J. Carroll heard the same story in her interviews with people who overdosed on opioids and were being treated in emergency departments: their supplier was arrested.In Episode 6, Dr. Jennifer J. Carroll discusses research measuring the relationship between police drug seizures and drug overdoses in the city of Indianapolis. Using police records of overdose and public records of overdose, the researchers predicted the chance of an overdose within mere meters and days of a police raid. Understanding this association and the threat of drug supply disruptions helps us rethink the most effective approaches to drug enforcement and preventing death from drug overdose in communities across the U.S.Read the paper published in the American Journal of Public Health: https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/full/10.2105/AJPH.2023.307291Read the CDC guidance document, Evidence-Based Strategies for Preventing Opioid Overdose: What’s Working in the United States, co-authored by Jennifer Carroll: https://www.cdc.gov/overdose-prevention/media/pdfs/2018-evidence-based-strategies.pdfLearn more about evidence-based strategies for overdose prevention here: https://www.naco.org/program/opioid-solutions-center