Understanding Racial Inequities in the Implementation of Harm Reduction Initiatives.

To elucidate a structurally oriented theoretical framework that considers legacies of racism, trauma, and social exclusion and to interrogate the "unmet obligations" of the institutionalization of the harm reduction infrastructure to provide equitable protections to Black and Latinx people who use drugs (PWUD) in Maryland. In 2019, we conducted a rapid ethnographic assessment of and qualitative interviews with PWUD (n = 72) and stakeholders (n = 85) in 5 Maryland counties. We assessed PWUD's experiences, service gaps in as well as barriers and facilitators to accessing services, and the potential to expand harm reduction programs.

Toward a National System of Expanded Testing of Existing Urine Specimens: The Drug Outbreak Testing Service (DOTS).

Background: NIDA's National Drug Early Warning System (NDEWS) was established in 2014 with the mission of identifying and monitoring emerging drugs in the United States. Identification of emerging drugs has been complicated, however, by the rapid development of novel psychoactive substances such that users often cannot identify and report the drugs they have ingested. Biologic testing of urine, hair or blood is the only way to reliably identify the substances recently used.

Co-use of methamphetamine and opioids among people in treatment in Oregon: A qualitative examination of interrelated structural, community, and individual-level factors.

Background: Rates of methamphetamine use and methamphetamine-related deaths have increased steadily in the United States in recent years. Methamphetamine is increasingly present in opioid-related deaths. An initial study of de-identified urine specimens (n = 102) collected at a drug treatment program between 2017 and 2018 indicated that 61% of specimens contained methamphetamine; of the specimens containing methamphetamine, people were, on average, five years younger than those who tested negative for methamphetamine; and non-fentanyl opioids were more than three times as common in methamphetamine positive specimens.