RES 094 Draft 01 2010-2012 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Statement of the Problem Despite measures taken over the past decade to address substance abuse in Hawai`i County, the use of illegal drugs, pharmaceutical and alcohol abuse still represent a significant challenge to both law enforcement and community -based prevention and treatment initiatives. Substance abuse is also implicated in co- occurring behavioral health issues among adults and youth, posing another set of serious challenges to our County. Federal, State, and County agencies, joined by community -based organizations have deployed considerable resources to address substance abuse. Two notable examples have been the Hawai`i Meth Project and the Big Island Drug Court, with methamphetamine being a major focus of both initiatives. However, an accurate picture of trends in substance abuse and related disorders is missing. The lack of baseline data has made monitoring trends and evaluating the County's progress in addressing these issues impossible. The purpose of this project is to develop a plan to systematically collect relevant data on an ongoing basis, with which to mobilize resources and evaluate initiatives. The project will also assess where gaps or redundancies may exist in existing response systems and create a framework for ongoing efforts to monitor trends in drug use and related disorders. This collaborative research project with the University of Hawai`i at Hilo will develop a system to monitor and assess the prevalence of methamphetamine and other drug use in the County, as well as draw together information on related issues such as co- occurring disorders. This system is essential to ongoing efforts to enhance both criminal justice and community -based strategies to address methamphetamine use, related behavioral health issues (such as co- occurring disorders), and the abuse of other drugs (including alcohol). This inventory of data sources is the first step in developing a framework to monitor and assess existing and emergent trends in substance abuse and related behavioral health disorders. Data on many of these issues are collected by diverse government agencies, service providers, and other community -based organizations that are in contact with drug -using populations. Health care delivery systems, law enforcement, courts, child welfare, schools, and a range of other entities have developed data collection systems to a greater or lesser extent. Yet, even the data that are collected are infrequently brought together in a form that can be shared and utilized by the stakeholders. It is also the case that agencies' data collection protocols, of necessity, present merely one perspective on the problem of drug abuse, creating a need for `connecting the dots' in a way that will give decision - makers a broader picture. There is also a need to identify areas where useful data should be collected (e.g., population -based studies) but is infrequently gathered, or not being collected at all. Overview of the Project This project will be modeled on NIDA's Community Epidemiology Surveillance Networks (CESN). The CESN consist of multiagency work groups that employ public health methods to examine the nature and prevalence of drug abuse. These prevalence data can be used to understand existing problems as well as discover emergent drug issues. This information can provide the foundation for initiatives that are grounded in a realistic picture of drug abuse in various populations. Public health, law enforcement, and related resources can then be deployed more effectively to address drug abuse. The written plan developed for this project will: