# Measuring the Longer Term Social Burdens of the Opioid Crisis on Local Communities

> **NIH NIH P50** · RAND CORPORATION · 2024 · $302,351

## Abstract

Outcomes Project ABSTRACT
The opioid crisis is a public health emergency in the United States affecting not only the people who use
drugs but also those who love them in their families/households and communities. While researchers and
policymakers are often focused on the direct outcomes experienced by people who use drugs such as
overdoses, misuse, and dependence, there is substantially less evidence quantifying the indirect,
downstream consequences of the opioid crisis on households (e.g., grandparenting, child welfare) and
communities (e.g., labor force participation, crime rates). The evolving and comprehensive impacts of the
opioid crisis are a policy priority. In this project, we will study the downstream consequences of the opioid
crisis. We will evaluate these outcomes given recent transitions of the opioid crisis first from prescription
opioids to heroin, followed by the transition to illicitly manufactured fentanyl and the subsequent growth in
polysubstance use. We will analyze outcomes related to family/household composition and intergenerational
dynamics as well as community composition and labor market. We will examine communities defined by
geography (state, county) and demographic characteristics (urban/rural status, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic
status).
Moreover, we will examine why the opioid crisis has disproportionately impacted some communities. We will
examine how variation in the downstream consequences of the opioid crisis results from community
resilience, differential drug-related criminal-legal enforcement, and/or differential public health policy
responses. This involves compiling a database of community characteristics describing resilience factors
(e.g., education, social connectedness) as well as measures of differential enforcement (e.g., excess drug-
related arrests) and policy responses (e.g., health spending). Also involved is the creation of indices
describing resilience, enforcement, and policy response. This analysis will inform how future policies can be
designed to equitably allocate resources and stem the progression of the opioid crisis.
After quantifying the evolving and variable relationship between the opioid crisis and its downstream
consequences, we will develop a procedure to systematically and comprehensively quantify the costs of the
opioid crisis. This procedure will focus on the indirect costs experienced by families/households and
communities and will enable comparisons to the direct costs experienced by people who use drugs. We will
assess costs for each wave of the opioid crisis and describe how the costs have changed over time. This
analysis will generate a method and public metrics for the costs of the opioid crisis and how these costs vary
across communities. This research will help the research community and policymakers understand the full
scope of the costs of the opioid crisis, including which factors are most costly.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10877057
- **Project number:** 5P50DA046351-07
- **Recipient organization:** RAND CORPORATION
- **Principal Investigator:** Evan David Peet
- **Activity code:** P50 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $302,351
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-08-15 → 2028-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10877057

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10877057, Measuring the Longer Term Social Burdens of the Opioid Crisis on Local Communities (5P50DA046351-07). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10877057. Licensed CC0.

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