News & Events
COBRE News

Mayor De Blasio Announces 1st Overdose Prevention Center services to open in NYC.
COBRE NewsPress Release issued on Tuesday, November 30th:
MAYOR DE BLASIO ANNOUNCES NATION’S FIRST OVERDOSE PREVENTION CENTER SERVICES TO OPEN IN NEW YORK CITY
Overdose Prevention Center services offer safe, clean places where people who use drugs…

Standing Order Naloxone Distribution in Massachusetts
COBRE NewsDr. Avik Chatterjee recently published "Broadening access to naloxone: Community predictors of standing order naloxone distribution in Massachusetts" in Drug and Alcohol Dependence. They found that Naloxone by standing order in Massachusetts…

Dr. Dahianna Lopez on Public Health America
COBRE NewsCOBRE Pilot Project Awardee, Dr. Dahianna Lopez spoke with Dr. William Latimer on Bronxnet's Public Health America. Dr. Dahianna Lopez, a tenure-track assistant professor at the College of Nursing at the University of Rhode Island. Dr. Lopez…

Opioids Overdose Rescue Training Video
COBRE News
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPSXWy3OfzI
We would love for you to view and share this virtual, on-demand, YouTube-hosted SciToons’ Opioids Overdose Rescue training video so that more and more people can learn about opioids, naloxone,…


Doctors, advocates press Massachusetts legislature for safe drug consumption sites ‘empirically proven to save lives’
COBRE NewsBy: Benjamin Kail | bkail@masslive.com
From: www.masslive.com
"Years ago, Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone believed supervised consumption sites for drug users were a bad idea.
But the 55-year-old mayor — who admitted Monday…

Vermont, Rhode Island decriminalized a lifesaving opioid treatment. Should Massachusetts?
COBRE NewsFrom: The Berkshire Eagle
BURLINGTON, Vt. — "Most of the people who come through the doors of Community Health Centers of Burlington addicted to opioids and looking for help already have tried the most effective medication the center…

We need treatment, not more of the same.
COBRE NewsProvidence Journal - August 5th
Josiah “Jody” Rich is a professor of medicine and epidemiology at Brown University. Rosemarie Martin is an associate professor in the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences at the Brown University…

Fact Sheet on Fentanyl Test Strips
COBRE NewsThe Legislative Analysis and Public Policy Association (LAPPA), a recipient of ONDCP’s Model Acts grant, has just released a new fact sheet on fentanyl test strips.
LAPPA’s new fact sheet outlines how states can make this important harm…

From Hell to Hope: An RI Addict’s story of hope during national surge in overdose deaths
COBRE NewsWARWICK — Anthony Perito, 39, says he was in elementary school when he started using drugs. “I was a big fan of Fred Flintstones chewables,” the multivitamin supplement for children, he said ...
Read More here
www.providencejo…

Public Health Out Loud: How to Prevent an Overdose
COBRE NewsSubstance use and overdoses are an epidemic in this country, and Rhode Island is not immune. But efforts to combat substance use are often highly misunderstood. This week’s episode sheds light on some of those efforts, commonly referred to…

To truly reimagine safety, we must end the war on drugs
COBRE Newsby Kassandra Frederique, Executive Director of the Drug Policy Alliance
"Over the past year, we have witnessed visceral examples of how the systems that purport to protect and support us too often cause harm, especially to communities…

College Dating Violence and Substance Misuse
COBRE NewsDating violence is a serious issue on many college campuses throughout the country.
Unfortunately, substance misuse can make a troubled relationship even more volatile.
A study that surveyed 72 female college students, titled “Daily…

Physician-pharmacist collaboration may increase adherence to opioid addiction treatment
COBRE NewsNIH-supported pilot study found team-based approach may improve buprenorphine care.
A collaborative approach to treating opioid use disorder that relies heavily on community pharmacists is feasible and may increase adherence and participant…

Providence/Boston Center for AIDS Research Substance Use Research Core
COBRE NewsThe Providence/Boston Center for AIDS Research Substance Use Research Core (CFAR SURC) is the only CFAR Core in the nation that focuses specifically on the intersection of substance use and HIV. The SURC is composed of 16 faculty members,…

Congratulations to Dr. Sara Becker!
COBRE NewsSara Becker, PhD, Associate Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences and of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, has won the 2020 G. Alan Marlatt Mid-Career Research Award from the Addictive Behaviors group of the Association for Behavioral and…

Medication-assisted Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder in Rhode Island: Who Gets Treatment, and Does Treatment Improve Health Outcomes?
COBRE NewsBy Mary A. Burke and Riley Sullivan
"Since the early 2000s Rhode Island has been among the states hardest hit by the opioid crisis. In response, the state has made it a priority to expand access to medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for…

“The stakes are life and death”: Addiction treatment’s Covid-19 challenge
COBRE NewsThe government eased access to drug addiction treatment during the pandemic. Now that could go away.
When the Covid-19 pandemic forced much of the US to lock down in the spring of 2020, officials and experts worried the necessary social…

Promising findings from a study on the effect of long-term buprenorphine use for opioid use disorder
COBRE News"Findings from this study and previous clinical trials of long-acting, injectable formulations of buprenorphine for opioid use disorder have shown this medication can decrease opioid use and opioid-related overdose deaths. This study found that…

The COBRE on Opioids and Overdose is thrilled to welcome its newest Pilot Awardees, Dr. David Sobel and Dr. Brendan Jacka.
COBRE News
Brendan Jacka, PhD, is an Investigator in Epidemiology at the Centers for Epidemiology and Environmental Health at Brown University. His pilot project, titled, “Trauma and stressor-related disorders among layperson opioid overdose…

Dr. White Hughto Led Study that Found Association Between Negative Media Portrayals of Transgender People and Adverse Mental Health Outcomes
COBRE NewsCoverage by PRWeb, November 23,2020
Assistant Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Epidemiology, Jaclyn White Hughto led a study that found that frequent exposure to negative depictions of transgender people in the media was significantly…

My Husband Invented Naloxone, My Son Died of Overdose. Oregon Gives Me Hope.
COBRE NewsI hope that the historic move to decriminalize drug possession in Oregon is the start of a new era for US drug policy.

Evidence Based Strategies for Abatement of Harms from the Opioid Epidemic
COBRE NewsJointly produced by several national addiction experts, this comprehensive report contains recommendations and evidence-based strategies for investment of litigation settlement funds to end the opioid crisis and mitigate future harms.
This report was…

Here’s How to Use $50 Billion in Opioid Settlement Money to Help People
COBRE NewsBy Arnold Ventures
A new set of opioid abatement recommendations, developed by an interdisciplinary team led by Harvard health economist Dr. Richard Frank, helps states and cities understand how to use settlement funds to address opioid-related…

In Shadow of Pandemic, U.S. Drug Overdose Deaths Resurge to Record
COBRE NewsDrug deaths in America, which fell for the first time in 25 years in 2018, rose to record numbers in 2019 and are continuing to climb, a resurgence that is being complicated and perhaps worsened by the coronavirus pandemic...

‘Cries for help’: Drug overdoses are soaring during the coronavirus pandemic
COBRE NewsWashington Post
Suspected overdoses nationally jumped 18 percent in March, 29 percent in April and 42 percent in May, data from ambulance teams, hospitals and police shows.
"Nationwide, federal and local officials are reporting alarming…

Innocent Prisoners Are Going to Die of the Coronavirus
COBRE NewsOnce the virus gets inside prison doors, "it will go through the prison like a hot knife through butter," said Rich, the Brown professor. Soon enough, transmission will run in the other direction. As prisoners are infected, they will infect the otherwise healthy staff, who return to their families...

We must release prisoners to lessen the spread of coronavirus
COBRE NewsUnless government officials act now, the novel coronavirus will spread rapidly in our jails and prisons, endangering not only prisoners and corrections workers but the general public as well.

Dr. Jon Soske from RICARES speaks at COBRE Bi-weekly meeting about Stigma
COBRE NewsThe COBRE welcomed Dr. Jon Soske on Monday, March 9th to speak about Stigma, Discrimination, and Addiction: Ideas for Systemic Interventions.
Dr. Jon Soske is the Community Engagement and Education Coordinator at RICARES. A person in long-term…

Physician Heal Thyself
COBRE NewsDoctors have own problems in recovering from opioid abuse, including denial of access to key medication
By Chiara Eisner, Globe Correspondent
When Dr. Sylvester Sviokla speaks to physicians at Harvard about the dangers of opioid addiction,…

Dr. Geoff Capraro, co-founder of NaloxBox talks about being a hero
COBRE NewsGeoff Capraro, MD, MPH is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Brown and co-founder of NaloxBox, whose mission is to furnish naloxone as a community rescue asset so anyone can rescue victims of opioid overdose...

NASEM Makes a Major Plea for Harm Reduction in Drug Policy
COBRE NewsThe Health and Medicine panel of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) released its report Opportunities to Improve Opioid Use Disorder and Infectious Disease Services on January 23.

Dr João Goulão Visits Providence to Share Life-saving Model
COBRE Event, COBRE NewsDr João Goulão from Lisbon, Portugal visited Providence in early January. A medical doctor by profession, Dr. Goulão has over 30 years’ experience regarding drug-related issues, working in this field since 1987 as general practitioner, and since then his professional life has been devoted to drugs and health.

Will Emergency Holds Reduce Opioid Overdose Deaths?
COBRE NewsWritten by COBRE Affiliated scientists Elizabeth Samuels, MD, MPH, MHS, Otis Warren, MD, Corey Davis, JD, MSPH and Paul Christopher, MD.
The opioid overdose crisis has claimed more than 400,000 lives in the United States since 1999. As part…

Rhode Island Hospital receives $11M to establish an opioid research center
COBRE NewsFederal funding will allow for creation of a center to help combat opioid epidemic
Rhode Island Hospital announced today that it has received an $11.8 million federal grant to address the nation’s opioid epidemic by establishing the Center…

COBRE on Opioids and Overdose ‘Hackathon’
COBRE NewsA hackathon is any event of any duration where people come together to solve problems. Hacking involves finding creative solutions to problems. It does not have to include technology.