Landscape of Emerging Drug Threats in Vermont

Landscape of Emerging Drug Threats in Vermont

Didactic presentation by Stephanie N. Thompson, MPA and Chief James G. Downes III, Ret., Overdose Response Strategy, New England High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, Office of National Drug Control Policy expound on the following:

Vermont’s illicit drug supply continues to shift in composition, potency, and patterns of use, creating new challenges for clinicians, public health professionals, and harm reduction providers. This session will review current national trends in the illicit drug market and examine Vermont-specific data sources used to monitor emerging threats, including drug seizure data, drug-checking services, and State of Vermont surveillance systems.

Participants will receive an updated overview of substances identified in the national, regional and Vermont drug supply, including sedatives, nitazenes, stimulants, and other novel psychoactive substances. The session will explore patterns in Vermont’s drug supply and use, including geographic distribution of seizures and trafficking activity, prevalence of single-substance versus polysubstance combinations, regional source patterns, temporal and seasonal trends, and shifts in routes of administration and their implications for overdose risk and wound care.

Finally, the presentation will address the challenges of the ever evolving illicit drug market, and discuss strategies for mitigating the public health and public safety risk associated with substance use. 

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