The Alabama Opioid Overdose and Addiction Council was created by Executive Order of Governor Kay Ivey in 2017.  The Prescribers and Dispensers Committee of the Council had the following charge:

Ensure tomorrow’s prescribers are educated in opioid prescribing today by encouraging all Alabama medical schools and residency programs, osteopathy, podiatry, optometry, dentistry and veterinary science, as well as their postgraduate training programs to include opioid education as a standard part of their curriculum.

Alabama health professions educators gathered in August of 2019 to begin work on this project and the decision was made to create an Alabama-specific online modular curriculum which could be easily integrated into the existing curricula at our health professions educational programs. The primary target audience for the curriculum is undergraduate and graduate health professions students but the curriculum is also appropriate for the professional learner. This work has been funded by the CDC Overdose Data to Action grant and the development of the ALAHOPE curriculum has been a joint project of the Jefferson County Department of Health, the UAB School of Health Professions and the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners. The curriculum is hosted and continuing education credit is conferred by the Auburn University Harrison College of Pharmacy.