Dec 2024

Expanding Access to Addiction Treatment

Harold Pollack

This paper explores practical strategies to expand access to addiction treatment for persons living with opioid use disorders (OUDs).

This paper explores strategies to expand practical access to evidence-informed addiction treatment interventions among persons living with substance use disorders—particularly persons living with opioid use disorder (OUD), who face remarkable risks of death in the shadow of an escalating overdose epidemic. Almost 100,000 Americans die every year from fatal overdoses. Despite recent declines, more than 70,000 of these deaths involve opioids. Expanding practical access to effective treatments, particularly to medications for OUD (treatments denoted MOUD by addiction treatment providers and researchers), is a central challenge in addressing the overdose epidemic.

Latest Updates

UChicago Crime Lab’s Policing Leadership Academy Informs First-Ever Bipartisan Federal Legislation to Expand Commander-Level Law Enforcement Training
Press Release
UChicago Crime Lab
May 2026

UChicago Crime Lab’s Policing Leadership Academy Informs First-Ever Bipartisan Federal Legislation to Expand Commander-Level Law Enforcement Training

Bipartisan Promoting Police Leadership Act, introduced by Senators Cornyn and Whitehouse, draws on UChicago model to set national standards

Second City is serious about using improv to train police leaders
Media Mention
Crain's Chicago Business
Apr 2026

Second City is serious about using improv to train police leaders

Steve Hendershot for Crain’s Chicago Business joined an improv workshop hosted by The Second City for participants of our Policing Leadership Academy (PLA), where they build the skills that make great leaders: active listening, mental agility, putting aside assumptions, and communicating under pressure.

University of Chicago Economist Jens Ludwig Testifies on Violence Reduction Research Before Illinois House Committee
Press Release
UChicago Crime Lab
Apr 2026

University of Chicago Economist Jens Ludwig Testifies on Violence Reduction Research Before Illinois House Committee

The Illinois House Gun Violence Prevention Committee will today hear testimony from Dr. Jens Ludwig, who will detail violence reduction strategies from his book, “Unforgiving Places: The Unexpected Origins of American Gun Violence.”