Preventing OUD in Justice-Involved Youth

The United States is experiencing an opioid epidemic. Sadly, opioid-related fatalities are on the rise, causing profound emotional, financial, and cultural impacts. One way to reduce these negative impacts is to prevent people from developing opioid use problems in the first place. Research shows that youth and young adults in the juvenile justice system have higher rates of opioid use disorder than other young people in the general population. The POST Study seeks develop, implement and evaluate the effectiveness and cost of 2 opioid use prevention programs of varying intensities. The prevention programs are designed specifically for youth and young adults living in justice settings. It is implemented during the time they are transitioning out of incarceration and back into the community. The research team hopes their results will help justice settings implement their own effective opioid prevention programs in the future.