Center for Applied Research on Substance Use and Health Disparities

3 DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE We a r e p l eased to r epo r t t he many accomp l i shmen t s o f The Cen t e r f o r App l i ed Resea r ch on Subs t ance Use and Hea l t h D i spa r i t i es ( ARSH ) i n 2017. Ou r sc i ence was pub l i shed i n 20 pee r - r ev i ewed a r t i c l es and r esea r ch r epo r t s and p r esen t ed a t doz ens o f l oca l , na t i ona l , and i n t e rna t i ona l con f e r ences . These wo r ks i nc l uded new s t ud i es o f p r esc r i p t i on d rug d i ve r s i on ; l oca l , na t i ona l and i n t e rna t i ona l d r ug ep i demi o l og y ; behav i o ra l i n t e r ven t i on c l i n i ca l t r i a l s ; and ongo i ng Sou t h F l o r i da - based r esea r ch among vu l ne rab l e popu l a t i ons . ARSH con t i nues to be a l eade r i n sponso r ed r esea r ch a t Nova Sou t heas t e rn Un i ve r s i t y. Spec i a l cong ra t u l a t i ons go to Dr. Mance Bu t t ram, who was awa r ded new f und i ng f rom t he Na t i ona l I ns t i t u t es o f Hea l t h to s t udy t he abuse and d i ve r s i on o f gabapen t i n and p r egaba l i n . Pr e l imi na r y da t a i nd i ca t e t ha t t hese med i ca t i ons a r e used by subs t ance use r s to po t en t i a t e t he eupho r i c e f f ec t s o f p r esc r i p t i on op i o i ds and he ro i n . Thus , t h i s r esea r ch wi l l i n f o rm p r esc r i b i ng p rac t i ces and pub l i c po l i cy i n i t i a t i ves r e l a t ed to p r esc r i p t i on d rug mi suse . As we l l , we app r ec i a t e t he supe r b e f f o r t s o f Sen i o r Ep i demi o l og i s t J im Ha l l i n d i ssemi na t i ng un i que i ns i gh t s i n to d rug abuse t r ends t h rough d i ve r se med i a ou t l e t s . H i s deep unde r s t and i ng o f how to bes t ra i se app rop r i a t e wa rn i ngs to l oca l , na t i ona l and i n t e rna t i ona l commun i t i es i s i nva l uab l e to pub l i c hea l t h . Many t hanks to ou r sc i en t i f i c co l l abo r a t o r s who con t r i bu t ed t he i r expe r t i se to ARSH p ro j ec t s , pub l i ca t i ons and p r esen t a t i ons . I n 2017 , t hey r ep r esen t ed mo r e t han a doz en i n t e rna t i ona l and US r esea r ch i ns t i t u t i ons . The wo r k we do r equ i r es a t eam e f f o r t . We wi sh to t hank a l l o f ou r r esea r ch s t a f f , ex t e rna l co l l abo r a t o r s , and t he NSU commun i t y f o r you r v i s i on , commi tmen t s and t a l en t s . We sha r e ARSH ’ s success f u l yea r wi t h a l l o f you . St even P. Ku r t z D i r ec to r