NDEWS was first funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) in 2014 as an expansion of its longstanding Community Epidemiology Workgroup (CEWG). Through July 2020, the first iteration of this system was overseen by researchers at the University of Maryland Center for Substance Abuse Research (CESAR). Their HotSpot reports from 2016 and 2019 are archived below.
NDEWS conducted on-the-ground epidemiologic investigations on topics of an immediate crisis or need and provided functional feedback to impacted communities to optimize current and future response. A minimum of five investigations were conducted over five years, prompted by trends in data from our indicators, NIDA, and/or local, regional, or state paired with anecdotal data.
HotSpot analyses was conducted with geocoding to pinpoint where use occurred and where overdose or other serious outcomes occurred. Users, caregivers, health care professionals, police, and other first responders were interviewed over several days in urban, rural, and suburban areas adjacent to the affected zip-codes.
2019
Reducing opioid overdose deaths in Minnesota: Insights from one tribal nation (December 2019)
Fentanyl: User Beliefs & Practices in Cleveland, Ohio (September 2019)
2016
New Hampshire 2016
The New Hampshire HotSpot study was conducted in 2016 in response to an increase in illicit fentanyl-related overdose deaths.
NDEWS New Hampshire HotSpot Study Summary (September 2017)
Phase 1
The Increase in Fentanyl Overdoses (October 2016)
Phase 2
Unintentional Fentanyl Overdoses in New Hampshire: An NDEWS HotSpot Analysis (September 2017)