Addressing the Opioid Crisis

Over the past three decades, the United States has faced one of the most devastating — and preventable — public health crises in its history. Opioid addiction has fueled record high overdose deaths, increased heroin and fentanyl use, and reshaped communities across the country.

This course dives deeply into how we got here — and what it will take to change course. We’ll examine the historical roots and structural drivers of the epidemic, including how medical practice, industry influence, regulation, stigma, and health systems all intersected to create a perfect storm.

Together, we will explore:

• Earlier opioid addiction epidemics — and what we failed to learn
• How Purdue Pharma and other opioid manufacturers reshaped opioid prescribing practices
• Trends in opioid-related overdose deaths and what they reveal about the crisis
• The increasing use of kratom and implications for policy and practice
• What effective treatment for opioid use disorder looks like — including the expanding role of harm reduction strategies — and why access remains limited

Students will critically analyze public health responses — asking not only what happened, but what should have happened and what still can be done.

You’ll also step into the role of a state health official responding to the crisis. You will design a targeted intervention, explain it to your governor in a policy memo, and communicate it to the public through an Op-Ed. Along the way, we’ll use the framework of primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention to evaluate impact, feasibility, and ethics.

By the end of the course, students will leave with a sharper understanding of opioid use disorder as a public health issue — and practical tools to design policy and program responses grounded in science, compassion, and equity.