Socioenvironmental disasters such as wildfires, floods, extreme heat events, and zoonotic epidemics have been increasing in magnitude and frequency. These events are sometimes are followed by increases in overdose mortality. This paper applies an adaptation of the Big Events framework, originally developed to understand macrosocial changes and their effects on HIV, to guide research into the pathways through which socioenvironmental disasters may cause increases in overdose mortality. These pathways include economic disruption, health and social service disruption, population displacement, changes in social networks, and social movements. They also include processes and conditions more causally proximal to overdose events such as housing insecurity and changes in drug markets and drug-use behaviors. The paper also discusses relevant existing measures and variables that must be developed to conduct research on the effects of socioenvironmental disasters on overdose The end goal of this application of the Big Events framework is to encourage scholarship that identifies potential interventions for people who use drugs, public and private service agencies and governments to mitigate the harms that socioenvironmental disasters can cause for people who use drugs.
Socioenvironmental disasters and the dialectics of overdose mortality
International Journal of Drug Policy, 156, 105438. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2026.105438.