Framing the Problem of Open-air Heroin Markets

• In Event: Drugs: Markets and Policy Considerations

Abstract

Open-air drug markets have been a long-standing problem in many communities, however, the rapid increase in opioid overdoses across the country adds new dimensions to studying drug markets. As a research partner on a BJA Innovations in Community Based Crime Reduction effort to disrupt the local open-air heroin market, a critical task was to develop a framework to focus the project.

The first step in the process included preliminary interviews and quantitative data collection to identify broad theoretical concepts of value that can apply to a practical effort to address this problem. The emergent ideas include applications of procedural justice, collective efficacy, routine activities, and surveillance. These concepts and theoretical underpinnings were then examined from not only a criminal justice perspective, but also from public health and community perspectives. For example, procedural justice from a public health response includes treatment availability and used-needle pick-up, while from a criminal justice perspective it includes call response time. These broad concepts led to the development of a framework to guide the evaluation design. The elements of neighborhood well-being, safety, and public health became critical to studying and intervening in open-air heroin markets. From these elements, data collection, indicators, analysis, and interventions flowed.

Authors

• Janelle Duda-Banwar, Rochester Institute of Technology

• Kayla Macano, Center for Public Safety Initiatives at Rochester Institute of Technology

• John Klofas, Rochester Institute of Technology

• Irshad Altheimer, Rochester Institute of Technology