Deadly drug overdose mortality rates among Black people In Kentucky increased by nearly 117% — from 21.2 deaths for every 100,000 people in 2016 to 46.0 per 100,000 in 2020, according to new research published in the journal Public Health Reports.

More than two years into the University of Kentucky’s $87 million HEALing Communities Study (HCS) to address the opioid epidemic in Kentucky, it is possible to see the life-changing impacts it has already made in the eight counties of the study’s first wave.

Experts on the front lines of the nation’s opioid and addiction crises will share their work in the field of opioid use disorder research, treatment and prevention this week at the 2022 Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit in Atlanta April 18-22.

The Lexington-Fayette County Health Department’s Board of Health has selected University of Kentucky Professor Sharon Walsh, Ph.D., as a 2022 Dr. Rice C. Leach Public Health Hero.

Research from University of Kentucky faculty and students working to reduce the burden of substance use disorders in Kentucky and beyond was showcased at UK's Substance Use Research Event (SURE).

Gov. Andy Beshear announced that through a federal grant the Commonwealth of Kentucky and UK are administering Narcan, a brand name for the medicine naloxone, in 16 counties at no cost to help reduce overdose deaths.

For this “UK at the Half,” Lisa Cassis, vice president for research at the University of Kentucky, shares how leaders across campus came together to find a path forward for research during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Opioid overdose death rates increased by 40% among non-Hispanic Black individuals between 2018 and 2019, according to study results published in the American Journal of Public Health this September.