Appendix: Pulse Check Methodology

The Pulse Check report has been published periodically since 1992. Its goal is straightforward: to provide the most current information on recent and changing trends in drug abuse in the United States. The Pulse Check draws on discussions with ethnographers and epidemiologists, law enforcement officials, and treatment providers all working in the drug field to compose a snapshot of the current state of drug abuse nationwide. For this issue, approximately 138 contacts were consulted from these three fields.

Ethnographers, Epidemiologists, and Other Ethnographic Sources

Ethnography is a mode of research that analyzes the behavior of groups in their natural settings. Through field observation and interviewing, ethnographers gather behavioral data. Ethnography is not conducted in an undercover manner. Rather, ethnographers are fully identified as social scientific researchers as they attempt to enter the natural setting of the group being studied. The goal of the ethnographers interviewed for this report is to enter the drug user's world and describe it free of predetermined notions, or "on its own terms."

Epidemiologists are also interviewed for this report. Epidemiologists study the origins, spread, and control of diseases, generally using a public health paradigm. In the field of drug abuse, they track changes in patterns of drug use, including the incidence and prevalence of the use of specific drugs, characteristics of users, and any emerging trends. Many of the epidemiologists who report for the Pulse Check are members of the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) Community Epidemiology Working Group (CEWG).

Other ethnographic sources consulted for the Pulse Check report are sociologists and psychologists who use ethnographic methods in their studies of drug abuse.

In sum, the ethnographic sources consulted for the Pulse Check report are some of the best-known drug researchers in the country. In some cases, they are trained ethnographers, in the other cases they are epidemiologists, sociologists, and psychologists who employ ethnographic research methodology. Generally, the same people report from each Pulse Check city.

The twelve ethnographers, epidemiologists, and other ethnographic sources contacted for this issue of the Pulse Check are listed below:

San Diego, CA: Susan Pennell, M.A. Director, Criminal Justice Research Division, San Diego Association of Governments.

San Francisco, CA: Sheigla Murphy, Ph.D. Director, Institute for Scientific Analysis.

Denver, CO: Owen Murdoch. Ethnographer, Urban Links, University of Colorado at Denver.

Bridgeport, CT: Garry Geter. Addictions Counselor, Connecticut Department of Health.

Newark, DE: Mario Pazzaglini, Ph.D. Private Consultant to the State of Delaware and several drug treatment facilities. Formerly with the State of Delaware, Bureau of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse and the University of Delaware.

Miami, FL: Bryan Page, Ph.D. Professor of Anthropology and Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, University of Miami.

Atlanta, GA: Claire Sterk, Ph.D. Emory University School of Public Health.

Chicago, IL: Lorna Thorpe. Research Specialist, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Illinois.

Baltimore, MD: Rodney Hopson, Ph.D. Research Associate, Health Policy Management, Johns Hopkins University.

New York, NY: John Galea, M.A. Chief of Ethnography, New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services. Former Commanding Officer of the New York City Police Department Youth Gang Intelligence Unit. Adjunct Professor of Social Science, St. John's University, Queens, NY.

New York, NY: Doug Goldsmith, M.A. Ethnographer, National Development and Research Institute Inc.

Seattle, WA: Michael Garmen, Ph.D., M.P.H., M.S.W. Research Scientist, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute, University of Washington.

Law Enforcement Sources

Law enforcement sources are derived from a database of Abt Associates contacts and from contacts developed upon recommendation from various law enforcement agencies. These sources are typically narcotics task force officers, special squad officers, and DEA agents.

This issue of Pulse Check contacted law enforcement sources from 18 cities. Generally, law enforcement contacts remain the same across issues of this report. However, when replacements must be made, they are done so upon recommendation, and when newcontacts are established in new cities, they are included. For safety reasons, law enforcement sources cannot be identified by name.

Treatment Providers

The sample of treatment providers was selected from the Uniform Facility Data Set (UFDS, formerly the National Drug Abuse Treatment Unit Survey), a compilation of drug and alcohol treatment programs composed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The UFDS is drawn from the National Facility Register, a directory compiled by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration.

This issue of Pulse Check has a sample of 108 treatment providers representing four geographic regions. From each region, 20 large programs (over 100 clients) and 20 small programs (less than 100 clients) were identified, and 10-20 of each type were contacted. The States represented in each region follow:

Region I: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island.

Region II: Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas.

Region III: Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, South Dakota.

Region IV: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Montana, Oregon, Washington.

Topics of Discussion

The following is a sample of items discussed during Pulse Check calls.

ETHNOGRAPHIC AND LAW ENFORCEMENT SOURCES

• Current rate of use of heroin, cocaine, and marijuana in the community, and any change in rate of use over the last six months.

• Age, ethnicity, and gender of users of heroin, cocaine, and marijuana in the community, and any change in these characteristics over the last six months.

• Frequency of use, typical dosage, and primary route of administration of heroin, cocaine, and marijuana, and any change over the last six months.

• Whether and how users are combining drugs.

• Whether there are any emerging drugs in the community.

• Characteristics of sellers in the community, any changes in those characteristics, and whether or not sellers deal multiple drugs.

• Typical purchase amounts and purity of heroin, cocaine, and marijuana.

TREATMENT PROVIDERS

• Percentage of treatment population reporting heroin, cocaine, marijuana, and alcohol as the primary drug of abuse, and any change in these percentages over the last six months.

• Percentage of treatment population injecting versus inhaling/smoking heroin and cocaine, and any change in these percentages over the last six months.

• Other drugs abused in concert with heroin, cocaine, marijuana, and alcohol.

• Age, ethnicity, and gender of treatment population according to primary drug of choice.

• Percentage of treatment population having had prior treatment.