Project Summary/Abstract
In 2013, CICAD (Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Committee) convened a group of
international experts to develop a Demand Reduction Information Framework (DRIF) for the
design of public strategies, policies, and programs in demand reduction. The goal of this SBIR
Innovation is to build upon the DRIF by creating a smart online, interactive, visual analytic
dashboard (STAR) to contextualize core indicators that are critical to the design of public
strategies, policies, and programs and to inform policy and program managers’ decision-making.
STAR integrates NIDA’s key findings from substance abuse prevention and treatment research
for the design of public health strategies, policies, and programs to mitigate the damaging
consequences of substance abuse.
While DRIF lays the foundation for data-driven demand reduction policy, program, and practice,
decision makers still face major challenges in turning complex and often fragmented data into
useable information. First, it is difficult to determine the quality of data; “garbage in, garbage
out.” Second, no matter how feature-rich the visual presentation software, the information is not
useful without business context. Third, there is a dependency on data analysts and IT personnel
to unlock insights from available data. STAR will address all three challenges by empowering
decision makers and managers to visually analyze the key indicators defined by DRIF in real
time.