National Drug Early Warning System Coordinating Center (NDEWS) - This is a competitive renewal to continue as NIDA’s National Drug Early Warning System (NDEWS) Coordinating Center (CC), in response to RFA DA-25-029. Under a Cooperative Agreement U01 mechanism, spearheaded by the Cottler Lab at the University of Florida since 2020, we propose a new MPI leadership plan with Dr. Linda Cottler (contact MPI) and Dr. Joseph Palamar (NYU Langone Health). The MPIs will again be joined by UF Co-Is Drs. Bruce Goldberger, Catherine Striley, Sara Jo Nixon, and Dr. Elan Barenholtz from the Machine Perception and Cognitive Robotics Lab (MPCR) at Florida Atlantic University. Our CC will continue successful elements from our current effort, while adding new and emerging public health surveillance methods to continue monitoring trends in common drugs and New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) at a fast pace. Our CC has been productive through publications, presentations, Weekly Briefings, weekly meetings with experts, alerts to County Health Departments, and primary data collection of emerging trends. Our impact will grow with expanded goals and aims to: 1. Receive continued guidance and direction from our Scientific Advisory Group (SAG) of 15 people in academia, and local and federal agencies to enhance our understanding of emerging drug use trends. 2. Expand our Early Warning Network of Sentinel Site Directors and Community-Based Health Experts to monitor NPS, combinations of drugs, patterns of use, adverse effects, and other consequences. A less formal Network will continue bi-directional sharing of information by Medical Examiners, Toxicologists, Funeral Directors, HIDTA Directors, Reporters, Parent Teacher Organizations, and others. 3. Expand key community-level indicators of drug use trends, including NPS and drug combinations, fatal and non-fatal overdoses, and infectious and behavioral consequences of drug use. Timely sources of signals will be expanded, along with harmonization strategies, that shed light on health disparities. Novel sources of information include Rapid Street Reporting (RSR), internet and social media, and the Novel Drug Use Experience Survey (NDUES), biospatial.io EMS data for fatal and non-fatal overdoses, drug seizures, wastewater, NPS Discovery forensic toxicology data and others. Collaborations will continue with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Office of the National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), CDC, Poison Control and others. 4. Disseminate findings, data, and resources through various mechanisms including a dashboard so that communities across the US, Europe, Canada, and Mexico can be aware of emerging threats. 5. Train the next generation of surveillance scientists, through collaborations with NIDA’s T32 Network, and Summer Intern Program, so that we continue to be one of the most valuable sources for NPS and other drug trends that inform intervention strategies and reduces harmful effects of substance use around the world.
