Chris Spera, Andy Feldman and Sarah Jalbert of Abt Global discuss the Proposed Opioid Crisis Innovation and Research Program (OCIRP). Addressing the opioid epidemic in the United States today will require not only additional resources, as recognized by the last Congress, but also stronger evidence about effective treatments and new field-generated innovations in service delivery. To catalyze evidence-building and innovation at the state and local levels, the federal government should launch the OCIRP within the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). OCIRP’s design would encourage the scale-up of proven treatments while also encouraging the development and testing of new, innovative approaches.  Innovative approaches are especially critical now in that there a wide variety of opioid products with differing formulations that may make a single (or previously established) treatment approach less effective.

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