USDA Launches Interactive Data Tool to Address Opioid Crisis. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development launched a new tool to “help leaders, researchers and policymakers assess what actions will be most effective in addressing the opioid crisis at the local level.” Developed in partnership with the Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis at NORC at the University of Chicago, the tool allows users to overlay substance misuse data against socioeconomic, Census, and other public education data. Earlier this year, NORC partnered with the Appalachian Regional Commission to develop a similar tool mapping overdoses for that region.
