Drug Identification and Recognition: The Opioid Crisis in America

Course Overview: Drug Identification and Recognition: The Opioid Crisis in America, a two-part eLearning course in a series of Drug Identification modules, provides an overview of the chemical and legal classification of opioids and examines the national epidemic of opioid abuse. The other courses in this series include Depressants, Antidepressants, and Inhalants, Stimulants, Hallucinogens, and Dissociative Anesthetics.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, every day in America, 116 people die from an opioid overdose. Part one of this course, “The Opioid Crisis in America: Overview”, discusses the differences between opiates and opioids, identifies uses of opioids, examines the overall national opioid epidemic, and describes the societal impacts of opioid abuse. Part two, “The Opioid Crisis in America: Opioid Drugs and Responses” reviews the most commonly abused prescription opioid drugs, differentiates between physical manifestations of synthetic opioids in comparison to other opioids, examines common methods of opioid injection and common paraphernalia used for ingestion, and reviews medications to reduce opioid dependence.

The modules provide key information and safety measures law enforcement and criminal justice providers should know when responding to opioid related events and examine community response and other evidence-based practices.

Learning Objectives:

• Explain the difference between opiates and opioids
• Identify uses of opioids
• Examine the overall national opioid epidemic
• Describe the societal impacts of opioid abuse
• Identify the most commonly abused prescription opioid drugs
• Differentiate between physical manifestations of synthetic opioids in comparison to other opioids
• Examine common methods of opioid injection and common paraphernalia used for ingestion
• Identify medications to reduce opioid dependence

Target Audience: Law enforcement, criminal justice professionals, service providers, corrections professionals, court system personnel, social workers, behavioral health/treatment providers, and other community stakeholders.

Cooperative Partners: This tuition-free online training was developed by the National Criminal Justice Training Center of Fox Valley Technical College and was originally supported by cooperative agreement 2017-CK-WXK-007 by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.

Learning Hours: 2 hours including the pre-test and post-test.

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