Understanding Drug Use Within a Rapidly Changing Supply: An Ethnographic and Toxicologic Investigation to Improve Overdose Prevention and Supply Surveillance Communication

Current surveillance methods fail to provide real-time, actionable information about changes in local drug supplies that increase the risk of overdose. This project will combine ethnographic fieldwork with comprehensive toxicological testing to track the complex and evolving nature of the illicit drug market and polysubstance use at the street level. With input from a diverse community advisory board that will include harm reduction and outreach workers, people who use drugs, public health experts, and peer recovery specialists, the researchers will test different methods of alerting the public and provider communities about supply safety.