Effective response to the overdose crisis requires rigorously conducted scientific investigations, with a specific focus on criminal legal system, to identify interventions, strategies and approaches that are efficient, feasible, scalable, and sustainable. Phase I of the Justice Community Overdose Innovation Network (JCOIN) created under the NIDA HEAL initiative funded a series of investigations targeting key stages of the substance use treatment continuum as people with substance use disorders interact with the criminal legal system. Together with the new research hubs that will be identified during JCOIN Phase II, these studies will generate a large amount of rich data from the most vulnerable populations in the U.S. opening opportunities for analyses beyond the primary study aims to maximize the impact of investment into scientific research – one of the primary foci of the Methodology and Advanced Analytics Resource Center (MAARC). The MAARC will also provide overall leadership and coordination of centralized data management; data infrastructure support; provide resources for advanced analytical techniques across the network; research dynamic changes in policy and practice in criminal-legal/community service settings; and conduct novel studies applying cutting edge analytical techniques to existing data and data collected across the JCOIN network: Aim 1. The Administrative Core will Integrate existing organizational and collaborative infrastructure to provide overarching resources and organizational structure and management to the Center; Aim 2. The Data and Analytics Support Core will continue to facilitate the collection, archiving, and storage of data collected by the Research Hubs, assist with closeout and curation of Phase 1 data and facilitate internal and external data sharing across both JCOIN Phases; Aim 3. The Technical Assistance Core will support on-demand technical assistance (consultation) and provide appropriate resources to JCOIN Phase I PIs, JCOIN Phase II researchers, and scientists across NIDA and beyond; Aim 4. The Survey Core will leverage NORC’s expertise to support national surveys about topics broadly relevant to substance use, stigma, behavioral health, criminal-legal systems, and public health with opportunities for specialized surveys of Criminal Justice systems as well as modified referral sampling of AmeriSpeak adjacent community members; Aim 5. The Geospatial Core will build upon popular geospatial tools, data and policy scans from Phase 1 to support innovative geospatial analysis that address important gaps in the environmental context of overdoses in criminal legal involved community members; Aim 6. The Modeling Core will develop an agent-based network modeling framework to conduct experiments of JCOIN trials and other in-silico trials guided by JCOIN investigators and other practitioners using multiple existing and new data sources; Aim 7. The Policy Landscape Core will inventory and characterize major policy/legal environmental changes with specific focus on Medicaid at the state and national level and produce datasets and related resources that can be used by JCOIN researchers and the larger NIDA research community. This study is part of the NIH’s Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) initiative to speed scientific solutions to the national opioid public health crisis. The NIH HEAL Initiative bolsters research across NIH to improve treatment for opioid misuse and addiction.

Effective response to the overdose crisis requires rigorously conducted scientific investigations, with a specific focus on criminal legal system, to identify interventions, strategies and approaches that are efficient, feasible, scalable, and sustainable. Phase I of the Justice Community Overdose Innovation Network (JCOIN) created under the NIDA HEAL initiative funded a series of investigations targeting key stages of the substance use treatment continuum as people with substance use disorders interact with the criminal legal system. Together with the new research hubs that will be identified during JCOIN Phase II, these studies will generate a large amount of rich data from the most vulnerable populations in the U.S. opening opportunities for analyses beyond the primary study aims to maximize the impact of investment into scientific research – one of the primary foci of the Methodology and Advanced Analytics Resource Center (MAARC).