Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law
Scott Burris, JD •
Center for Public Health Law Research
Jonathan Larsen, JD, MPP •
Center for Public Health Law Research
Elizabeth Platt, Esq. •
Center for Public Health Law Research
This project brings together researchers from the Center for Public Health Law Research and the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law, to identify a series of 84 actionable steps for government at all levels to improve and align drug policy in the United States.
The increase in serious opioid use disorder (OUD) and overdose deaths in the United States requires a response that coordinates multiple levels of government to mobilize their resources and expertise in an aligned and efficient fashion.
Coverage expansion for Medicaid improves access to care and health outcomes for people with substance use disorder (SUD). In spite of that evidence, as of May 2023, 10 states have failed to expand Medicaid funding to low-income adults as emergency enrollment protections established for COVID-19 end. This coverage gap in the non-expansion jurisdictions denies access to care to more than 1.9 million people living in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
This longitudinal dataset captures laws addressing authority to respond to public health emergencies that were enacted between May 21, 2022, and October 6, 2023, in all 50 US states and the District of Columbia.
Published in the American Journal of Public Health, this article written by staff at the Center for Public Health Law Research identifies and categorizes US state legislation introduced between January 1, 2021, and May 20, 2022 that addresses emergency health authority. The COVID-19 pandemic called for quick, decisive action to limit infections, and when the next outbreak hits, new laws limiting health authority may make such action even more difficult.
President Biden made big headlines by pardoning federal violations of simple cannabis possession, citing that “too many lives have been upended because of our failed approach to marijuana." But will the decision really move the needle? Scott Burris, Professor of Law at Temple University’s Beasley School of Law, examines the ripple effects of Biden’s announcement, and dives into the implications of how controlled substances, specifically marijuana, are scheduled by the federal government and states.
Intimate partner violence is a preventable public health problem affecting more than 12 million people in the United States annually. The immense burden of victimization is most often borne by women. Nearly one in two female homicide victims are killed by current or former partners (more than 50% of which involve firearms). Firearm-related morbidity and mortality are concentrated where firearm ownership is most prevalent and firearm laws are least restrictive, indicating the potential for law to serve as an intervention.
To mitigate morbidity and mortality associated with prescription opioids, most states have implemented limits on opioid analgesic prescribing. Approaches vary, but these laws generally restrict the duration of an opioid prescriptions by the number of days supplied. Some states additionally limit the daily dosage or total dosage allowed in opioid prescriptions.
This dataset presents state-level statutes and regulations across all 50 states and the District of Columbia in effect between January 1, 2014 and December 31, 2019.
This research collected Financial Assistance Policies and related debt collection policies from a representative sample of 75 340B hospitals to better understand financial support for pharmaceuticals for low-income populations.
This dataset on LawAtlas.org explores statutes and regulations addressing school lunch policies in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. This dataset is valid through April 1, 2021.
