Building Community Responses to Risks and Emergent Drug Use in Hartford, Connecticut

Illicit drug use is a continually changing behavior. Notable changes include the introduction and spread of new drugs and drug combinations, discovery of new ways to use existing drugs, and the development of new populations of drug users. Unfortunately, the public health response to emergent drug-related epidemics is slow and fragmented. Indeed, there is growing recognition of the need for new public health surveillance mechanisms that would allow the rapid identification of emergent behavioral trends in drug use, the assessment of their health and other consequences, and the implementation of participatory community responses.
A team of researchers from the Hispanic Health Council in Hartford, Connecticut and the Connecticut Department of Public Health are engaged in an innovative research project to develop new methods for enhanced surveillance and community response related to emergent drug use. Information on emergent drug use will be collected via observation and interviews, and the results will be used to develop a community-based public health response. The Participatory Response Team will provide a vehicle for direct participation of citizens, service providers, and policy makers to help address the problem.

The specific aims of the project including the following:

• Develop innovative approaches to quickly identify and track emergent drug use trends

• Identify new populations using key traits and characteristics, such as age, gender, ethnicity, and neighborhood of residence

• Create a Participatory Community Response Team composed of researchers, health professionals, and community members to develop and implement community-based responses to emergent drug use; and

• Evaluate the project as a transferable community-based public health approach for identifying and responding to emergent drug use.

Research Team
Merrill Singer, Ph.D., Principal Investigator
Gregory Mirhej, Project Coordinator
Claduia Sntelices , Ph.D., Ethnographer
Hassan Saleheen, M.D., M.P.H., Data Analyst
Juhem Navarro, M.A., Data Manager
Lucy Rohena, B.A., Outreach Interviewer
Deshawn Jennings, Outreach Interviewer
Jim Vivian, Ph.D., Data Analyst