Drug Use, Overdose, and Policy

Our lab studies the intersection of substance use, overdose risk, and the built environment. We investigate how neighborhood conditions—including poverty, housing instability, and access to services—interact with social policies to shape the opioid crisis. Our work on the "Medicaid Expansion Project" highlights the role of policy environments in mitigating risk and supporting recovery. We examine the spatial variability in opioid-related drug overdoses to pinpoint communities in greatest need of intervention.

Core Questions We Address

• How do neighborhood conditions and built environment features influence local patterns of drug use and overdose?
• What is the impact of state and local policy environments (e.g., recovery housing initiatives) on treatment access and overdose mortality?
• How can Bayesian spatial models help target harm reduction resources to the communities most in need?

Methods and Approaches

We apply rigorous spatial and policy analysis to address the overdose crisis:

• Bayesian Spatiotemporal Analysis: Modeling the variability in opioid-related drug overdoses across space and time to identify emerging hotspots.
• Policy Evaluation: Assessing the effectiveness of legislative interventions, such as those impacting recovery housing, on long-term treatment outcomes.
• Community-Level Modeling: Understanding the dynamic relationship between neighborhood change and substance use trends.

Select Publications

Opioid Overdose & Spatial Analysis

• Srinivasan, S. Shrestha, S., Harris, D., Lewis, O., Rock, P., Silwal, A., Pustz, J., Oh, S., Barboza-Salerno, G., & Stopka, T. (2024). Employment industry and opioid overdose risk: A pre- and post-COVID-19 comparison in Kentucky and Massachusetts 2018-2021. Spatial and Spatiotemporal Epidemiology, Vol. 52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sste.2024.100701

• Harris, D., Shikar, S., Rock, P., Silwal, A., Barboza-Salerno, G., Lewis, O., Srinivasan, S., Stopka, T. (2024). The Impact of Buprenorphine Prescriber Data on Geospatial Access to Treatment in HEALing Communities Study Communities. Journal of Substance Use and Addiction Treatment, Vol. 171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.josat.2025.209625

• Barboza, G. E., & Angulski, K., Hines, L. & Brown, P. (2022). Variability in opioid-related drug overdoses, social distancing, and area-level deprivation during the COVID-19 pandemic: A Bayesian spatiotemporal analysis. Journal of Urban Health, Vol. 99, Issue 5. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-022-00675-x

  Manuscripts Under Review

• Lewis, O., Srinivasan, S., Shrestha, S., Harris, D., Barboza-Salerno, G., Rock, P., Walley, A., Samet, J., and Stopka, T. Enhancing access to methadone treatment in three HEALing Communities Study sites: A spatial and geostatistical study. Revise and Resubmit from Substance Use & Misuse.

• Warren, K., Barboza-Salerno, G., Duhaney, S., Harrington, T., & Helms, E. Beyond the Neighborhood: Recovery House Resident Employment Prospects in Three Midwestern Cities. Submitted to the International Journal of Drug Policy.

• Warren, K., Barboza-Salerno, G. & Bunger, A. Connecting the Community: Brief Social Work Interventions for Therapeutic Communities. Revise and Resubmit from the International Journal of Therapeutic Communities.

  Current Funded Projects

Medicaid Expansion Project

Funding: Government Resources Center, $136,000 (2025-26)

Role: Principal Investigator

Description: Examining the impact of Medicaid expansion on substance use treatment access and overdose mortality across multiple states.

Related Resources

• View all publications
• GitHub Repository