Maxwell School News and Faculty Media, Opinion and Analysis

Monnat discusses increase in overdoses during the pandemic in VICE

"At its core, I think addiction is about a need for connection," says Shannon Monnat, Lerner Chair for Public Health Promotion. "My research shows that work, family and community are the three most important factors for understanding why drug overdose rates are higher in some places than others. Work, family and community are the three arenas where we derive meaning and purpose from our lives. If we don’t have those connections, we might seek it out elsewhere, for example with drugs."

February 22, 2021

See related: Addiction, COVID-19, United States

Monnat featured in Institute for New Economic Thinking article on deaths of despair, COVID-19

Read more in the Institute for New Economic Thinking article, "Epidemic of Despair Could Haunt America Long After COVID."

February 4, 2021

See related: Addiction, COVID-19, United States

Monnat discusses COVID’s role in rising drug overdose deaths with the Associated Press

December 23, 2020

Monnat part of team recognized for research on rural America

November 4, 2020

Monnat study on opioids cited in CityLab article

While the urban opioid crisis is a crisis of heroin and illegal drugs, the rural opioid crisis of prescription drugs is largely a story of growing spatial inequality and of places left behind, most often occurring in places that tend to have a declining industrial base, finds a study co-authored by Shannon Monnat, Lerner Chair for Public Health Promotion.

December 12, 2019

Monnat takes part in White House roundtable aimed at reducing opioid overdoses

“Many people who misuse opioids are also misusing other substances, and a common driver of this is self-medicating,” says Shannon Monnat, associate professor of sociology and Lerner Chair for Public Health Promotion, whose research examines the connections between social disadvantage, place, public policy and health.

November 15, 2019

Monnat article on socioeconomic and opioid supply factors to drug mortality rates published in JRS

Shannon M. Monnat

April 30, 2019

See related: Addiction, Longevity

Monnat quoted in PolitiFact article on Andrew Yang, life expectancy

According to Shannon Monnat, Lerner Chair for Public Health Promotion, the recent decline in life expectancy "is due almost entirely" to increases in overdoses and suicides. "Although the declines are small, they are unprecedented, and they are signals that there is a serious well-being crisis in the U.S."

April 4, 2019

See related: Addiction, Longevity, Mental Health, United States

Monnat paper on opioid-related mortality in rural America published in Int Journal of Drug Policy

Khary K. Rigga, Shannon M. Monnat & Melody N. Chavez

June 30, 2018

See related: Addiction, Health Policy, Longevity, United States

Monnat study on factors associated with differences in drug-related mortality published in AJPM