Stories from Sullivan: How a Rural Community Addresses the Opioid Crisis

In rural communities like upstate New York's Sullivan County, where the bus runs twice a week and cab fare is expensive, people who need substance abuse treatment often have a hard time getting to it. It's clear that America has an opioid problem. In conversations with people on the front-...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Policy File 2018
Main Authors: Strach, Patricia, Zuber, Katie, Perez-Chiques, Elizabeth
Format: Report
Language:English
Subjects:
Drugs
Government
Health care policy
Management of crises
Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government
Online Access:Request full text
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Summary:In rural communities like upstate New York's Sullivan County, where the bus runs twice a week and cab fare is expensive, people who need substance abuse treatment often have a hard time getting to it. It's clear that America has an opioid problem. In conversations with people on the front-lines of the epidemic, however, it is not so clear that lawmakers in Albany or Washington, DC, understand the realities of the crisis --- like the challenges of accessing services in remote rural communities. This disconnect between the communities fighting opioids on a day-to-day basis and lawmakers devising solutions in the state's Capitol weakens the response to the opioid crisis. How can we expect state and federal officials to craft relevant solutions to a problem we don't fully understand? In an effort to bridge this disconnect between local communities and lawmakers, the Rockefeller Institute of Government is conducting an in-depth study of the opioid crisis in Sullivan County, a rural community located 100 miles northwest of New York City.