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The Center for Drug Safety & Services Education (formerly the Center for Opioid Safety Education (COSE)) offers education and technical assistance for individuals, professionals, and communities in Washington State who want to learn how to prevent and intervene in opioid addiction and overdose.

We aim to reduce fatalities from opioid overdose by:

  • Preventing heroin use and the inappropriate initiation of opioid pain medicines
  • Supporting access to opioid use disorder treatment, including medication-assisted treatment
  • Promoting overdose awareness and naloxone (opiate overdose antidote) distribution

COSE staff can provide:

Community and Professional Education

  • Online, instant feedback overdose prevention/naloxone training via https://stopoverdose.org
  • In-person and video conference training for groups on:
    • Trends in WA opioid use and overdose
    • Understanding opioid use/misuse, addiction
    • Treatment options for opioid use disorder (addiction)
    • Recognizing and responding to opioid overdose
    • Washington State’s Good Samaritan and Overdose/Naloxone Law
  • Customized continuing education on opioid use, overdose prevention, and naloxone for health care providers, pharmacists, chemical dependency professionals, social service providers, and other professionals
  • Access to print and web-based opioid overdose education resources

Technical Assistance

Consultation on how to design, implement, and evaluate opioid safety and overdose prevention interventions including:

  • Naloxone distribution
  • Public education and awareness campaigns
  • Clinical practices (e.g. safe prescribing and dispensing, patient education, and overdose risk assessment)
  • Practical assistance and peer networking through e-newsletters and webinars
  • Ongoing monitoring, analysis, and reporting of opioid use and overdose to support evidence-based policy making and programming

Contact us for training, consultation, and more:
Alison Newman
stopovd@uw.edu