Rapid Street Reporting (RSR) is a national venue-intercept study planned for the 17 NDEWS Sentinel Sites. Over the next five years, RSR will take place in at least six sentinel sites per year over a weekend period.
This initiative uses a modified version of Co-Investigator Dr. Joseph Palamar’s validated rapid survey, which has been previously used to survey over 4,500 nightclub attendees. The rapid survey is programmed to assess the use and correlates of use of over 100 drugs, many of which are new psychoactive substances (NPS), and queries whether users experienced acute adverse effects from specific drugs used.
Biological testing is important when investigating NPS, which is why NDEWS is adding hair testing of surveyed individuals. Dr. Palamar has been detecting extensive underreported NPS use via hair testing, as many individuals were unknowingly exposed through adulterated drugs. Specimens will be tested by Dr. Alberto Salomone with three published methods utilizing ultra-high performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS). Two of these methods (developed by Dr. Salomone) are capable of detecting over 100 NPS––mostly synthetic cannabinoids, synthetic cathinones (“bath salts”), and now fentanyl analogs and other potent opioid NPS.
If you are interested in working as an interviewer for the RSR study, please contact the study coordinators Nae Won (nwon@ufl.edu) and Anna Wang (annawang@ufl.edu) for more details.