Pubdate: Thu, 07 Aug 2014
Source: Diamondback, The (U of MD Edu)
Copyright: 2014 Diamondback
Contact:  http://www.diamondbackonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/758
Author: Taylor Swaak

UNIVERSITY SYSTEM WILL MONITOR INTERNET FOR DRUG TRENDS

The Program Will Be Replacing a 38-Year-Old System

This university's Center of Substance Abuse and Research is beginning 
development of a national drug data collection system this month.

The National Drug Early Warning System will contrast with traditional 
substance abuse tracking. Previously, researchers used surveys and 
studies that were outdated by the time data were released. This new 
system will monitor Internet content to provide information on drug 
trends as they emerge, said CESAR Director Eric Wish.

"Drug abuse creates problems in every state," said Kathleen 
Rebbert-Franklin, deputy director of population-based behavioral 
health at the state Health and Mental Hygiene Department.

"There's a lot of public health and public safety ramifications to 
the issues of substance use."

After a competitive application process, CESAR was selected to 
receive five years of funding totaling about $3 million from the 
National Institute of Drug Abuse. This money will go toward 
developing the new substance abuse tracking system, said Wilson 
Compton, the institute's deputy director.

Given recent increases in overdose deaths, prescription opioid 
misuse, heroin use increases and shifts in marijuana policy, Compton 
said, new measures are needed to keep emerging drug trends in check.

The new system will replace NIDA's current 38-year-old system, the 
Community Epidemiology Work Group, which allows a cluster of experts 
from different regions to meet twice a year to review conditions in 
areas across the country, Compton said.

"[The new system] will build on the success and history of [the 
Community Epidemiology Work Group] but will also take advantage of 
data available using social media, which is shifting the way 
information about drug epidemics may be possible to collect," Compton said.

Wish said CESAR plans to collaborate with scientists at this 
university in information systems and computer science to enact 
proper and efficient web monitoring.

"We're also going to be setting up an electronic communication 
network for experts throughout the country to be able to, on a real 
time basis, report on potential drugs emerging in the area," Wish said.

The early warning system will not only consist of virtual research; 
it will also involve hands-on intervention, thanks in part to 12 
collaborative "lookout" sites across the country. If a drug outbreak 
occurs, an advanced expert advisory board of scientists can decide to 
send a research team to the area to collect information, Wish said.

With synthetic marijuana, synthetic cannabinoids and designer drugs 
gaining popularity, data collection, sometimes in the form of 
biological specimens like urine, is necessary to distinguish which 
exact metabolites - products of metabolism - are in these newer 
drugs, Wish said.

"We won't be relying just on people's self reports to identify drugs 
that they're using," Wish said. "Most people who use these designer 
drugs, they know what they think they took, but until we do the 
actual testing, no one knows what they actually took." Compton said 
the first steps the center will take in the system's development 
include building its infrastructure and planning the first meeting of experts.

The early warning system is expected to be functioning within six 
months to a year.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom