ASTHO Legal Mapping Center Launches Maps of Harm Reduction Policies to Prevent Overdose

ARLINGTON, Va., Aug. 7, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) today announced the launch of its new legal mapping center aimed at highlighting policies that may prevent overdose and help fight the opioid epidemic. With the overall goal of reducing the nation's overdose rates, the center created maps that visualize the national policy landscape of overdose prevention centers and laws supporting community distribution of naloxone and fentanyl test strips.

"Public health leaders can use these maps to identify strategies that we know lead to reductions in overdose rates," says Michael Fraser, PhD, chief executive officer of ASTHO. "I am excited about how this new resource will help our members understand the policy landscape and identify policies they may need to help stop the opioid epidemic."

The two maps, created using MonQcle, a legal mapping software by the Center for Public Health Law Research at Temple University Beasley School of Law, are part of ASTHO's support of state and territorial overdose prevention efforts. The first, cross-sectional map visualizes state laws supporting harm reduction efforts at a specific point in time. The second map is a longitudinal map and visualizes which jurisdictions considered legislation to create overdose prevention centers across a period. Each map is accompanied by the research protocol ASTHO staff followed to identify the laws and legislation included in the resource. Additionally, each map provides links to the state law or legislation referenced, a tool for public health leaders and policymakers to find laws in other jurisdictions that may help prevent overdose.

"Policy is a powerful tool available to state officials looking to address the overdose crisis," says Maggie Davis, ASTHO's director of state health policy. "This resource compiles hundreds of laws across the country that support public health efforts to prevent overdose, which public health leaders can use to inform their policy goals for future legislative sessions."

Learn more about ASTHO's recommendations for state and territorial health officials and agencies to reduce overdose rates through policy interventions from a recent Journal of Public Health Management & Practice article.

ASTHO is the national nonprofit organization representing the public health agencies of the United States, the U.S. territories and Freely Associated States, and Washington, D.C., as well as the more than 100,000 public health professionals these agencies employ. ASTHO members, the chief health officials of these jurisdictions, are dedicated to formulating and influencing sound public health policy and to ensuring excellence in public health practice.

SOURCE Association of State and Territorial Health Officials