Ryan D. Assaf

Recommendations:
1. Prioritizing housing is an important first step
2. Increasing access to treatment that reaches people experiencing homelessness while minimizing barriers to treatment is critical
3. Increasing access to naloxone is important to prevent fatal overdose deaths

Take home:
1. Meth is the most common reported drug
2. Their are barriers for people experiencing homelessness to access treatment
3. Naloxone possession, a life-saving medication, is low

4. Many people have survived an overdose
-20% have experienced an overdose in their lifetime
-10% experienced an overdose during this current episode of homelessness

25% of people currently carried naloxone, a medication to reverse an overdose

3. There is a high unmet need for substance use treatment
-21% of people who used drugs at least 3 times a week reported currently wanting treatment but were not able to access it
-This was higher for people who used opioids (37%)

2. About a quarter started using drugs at least 3 times a week after becoming homeless for the first time
-42% used before becoming homeless
-25% never used at all

Drug use may increase the risk of experiencing homelessness, but homelessness increases the risk of substance use

Key findings:
1. 37% used illicit drugs at least 3 times a week
-Most common drug= methamphetamine (33%)
-10% used opioids (most people who used opioids also used meth)
-Small % using cocaine/crack cocaine (3%)

We have a new paper in @jama.com on substance use in people experiencing homelessness, from the largest representative study of people experiencing homelessness since the 1990s
t.co/XE19D4S7Z5