United States Schools and the Opioid Crisis: Charting New Directions

ABSTRACT

Background

The opioid epidemic has created unprecedented challenges in the United States (US), including hundreds of thousands of lives lost to overdose in the past five years. Expansion of prevention and treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD) is urgently needed, as evidence-based strategies exist but many remain unable to access life-saving services.

Purpose

To inform school health and mental health providers, educators and school administrators about the causes and consequences of the US opioid epidemic and to provide practical solutions for engineering multi-tiered systems of support for children and families affected by the epidemic, including through opioid misuse, OUD, and opioid overdose.

Methods

We review the literature on the history of and current challenges associated with the opioid epidemic in the US.

Results

The collateral damage of OUD is pervasive, impacting children and families across the US. We found no health education programs focusing on this topic in US schools, underscoring a critical need and cogent practice/policy avenue.

Discussion

Schools are uniquely positioned to respond to the opioid epidemic, but school health and mental health providers, educators, and other professionals who work in schools must have accurate knowledge of the opioid epidemic, understand the challenges it is causing for children and families, and be familiar with best practices in prevention and treatment.

Translation to Health Education Practice

This review provides a succinct overview of the history of the opioid epidemic, examines its impacts on children and families, and provides a call to action for schools to partner in our national response.

IMPACT STATEMENT

The US opioid epidemic has caused broad devastation in homes, schools, and communities across the country. Increases in mental health disorders and isolation associated with the COVID-19 pandemic have only worsened the epidemic. School health and mental health providers, along with educators and school administrators, can play a critical role in delivering prevention messages, providing screening and linkage to evidence-based services, and offering psychosocial support for children and families impacted by opioid misuse and opioid use disorder (OUD). Decreasing the stigma surrounding the opioid epidemic is also critical, and school professionals/educators are well-positioned to play a key role in stigma reduction efforts in schools and communities. There is a critical absence of health education programs in the US focusing on this topic, underscoring the need for the development and expansion of such programs.

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Acknowledgments

We express appreciation to Brooke Chehoski, Tucker Chandler, and Amanda Steinhafel for their considerable help in organizing this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s). This manuscript has not been published elsewhere and is not simultaneously under review for publication elsewhere.