Opioid Crisis Research Support — Trellison Institute

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Trellison Institute applies published methodologies from the CDC, NIH National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), and academic researchers studying the opioid epidemic. Trellison Institute has not contacted these organizations beyond their published data portals and does not claim endorsement or affiliation. We apply their published frameworks because understanding the opioid crisis requires rigorous, county-level data analysis that most local health departments lack the infrastructure to perform. Negative results are results.

What This Service Does

Opioid Crisis Data Analysis

The opioid crisis has killed over 500,000 Americans since 1999. Understanding its geographic spread, the transition from prescription opioids to synthetic fentanyl, and the effectiveness of intervention strategies requires structured data from fragmented federal, state, and county sources.

Trellison applies published epidemiological and public health frameworks to freely available mortality, prescription, and enforcement data, providing researchers with analytical pipelines for studying the crisis at the county level.

We also produce original work in this space: Requiem for the Overdosed is a data-driven musical composition documenting the crisis through the lens of those lost, combining rigorous mortality data with narrative storytelling.

Analytical Frameworks

Published Methodologies Applied

CDC WONDER Mortality Analysis Published frameworks for analyzing drug overdose mortality data by county, age, race, and cause. Multiple Cause of Death files with ICD-10 coding for opioid subtypes (natural, semi-synthetic, methadone, synthetic/fentanyl).

DEA ARCOS Prescription Tracking Published frameworks for analyzing the Automation of Reports and Consolidated Orders System data, tracking opioid distribution from manufacturer to pharmacy at the county level.

NIH/NIDA Epidemiological Models Published research on the three waves of the opioid epidemic (prescription opioids, heroin, synthetic opioids) and frameworks for modeling geographic spread patterns.

Naloxone & MAT Access Evaluation Published frameworks for evaluating medication-assisted treatment (MAT) access, naloxone distribution, and harm reduction program effectiveness at the community level.

Data Sources

Public Data, Transparent Methods

CDC WONDER — Multiple Cause of Death, Bridged-Race Population Estimates, and Provisional Drug Overdose Death Counts. County-level mortality data by drug type and demographic group.
DEA ARCOS — Opioid distribution data by drug, dosage, and geography. The dataset that enabled the Washington Post and HD Media to map the flood of pills into communities.
SAMHSA — National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS), and buprenorphine practitioner locator for MAT access analysis.
Census Bureau (ACS) — Community demographics, poverty, employment, and health insurance coverage linked to county-level overdose data for socioeconomic context.
FBI UCR / NIBRS — Drug-related arrest and seizure data for enforcement pattern analysis alongside mortality and treatment data.
State Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs) — Where publicly available, prescription monitoring data for analyzing prescribing pattern changes in response to policy interventions.

Research Applications

Available for Verified Researchers

What researchers can do with this service

County-level mortality mapping — geographic analysis of overdose deaths by opioid subtype, with demographic breakdowns and temporal trends from 1999 to present.

Prescription-to-mortality correlation — structured pipelines linking ARCOS distribution data to CDC mortality data for analyzing the relationship between pill volume and death rates.

Intervention effectiveness — frameworks for evaluating naloxone access programs, MAT expansion, Good Samaritan laws, and other policy interventions using pre-post and difference-in-differences methods.

Fentanyl wave analysis — tools for tracking the geographic spread of synthetic opioid deaths and identifying communities at emerging risk based on leading indicators.

This service is free for public health researchers, epidemiologists, and community health organizations whose methodology passes Trellison's evaluation criteria. We provide the data infrastructure. Researchers provide the expertise and the local context. We do not advocate for specific drug policy positions — we measure what the data shows.

Access This Service

If you are a researcher studying drug overdose mortality, prescription patterns, treatment access, or the effectiveness of opioid crisis interventions, request access to our data pipeline.

Request Access →