Presenters: Rosalie Liccardo Pacula, PhD, and Rosanna Smart, PhD

ABSTRACT: Numerous private and public agencies are collecting and reporting out information on state opioid policies to facilitate greater analysis and dissemination of state approaches for tackling the opioid epidemic. Most agencies focus on laws/statutes, which means that this is where the bulk of the research is happening. Definitions of many policies differ across some of the most commonly relied upon sources, which contributes to uncertainty regarding their impact. In this workshop, we will discuss some of the most common definitions being used for various policies, discuss how differences in assumptions regarding the meaning of “effective date” can have important implications regarding the likelihood of finding an impact through analysis, and discuss the importance of considering multiple policy domains.