NCJ Number
155890
Date Published
1994
Length
74 pages
Annotation
This report contains the proceedings of the fifth meeting of the Maryland Statewide Epidemiology Work Group (SEWG), held on May 6, 1994, at the University of Maryland.
Abstract
The mission of the SEWG is to track, monitor, and analyze trends and patterns of the use of legal and illegal substances throughout Maryland, with a focus on member counties and Baltimore City. Specific objectives of the work group are to provide accurate and timely assessment of local alcohol and drug abuse trends, identify emerging drugs of abuse, determine at-risk populations and environments for program interventions, identify measures for program evaluation and resource allocation, and develop baselines for local program initiatives. The SEWG meets twice annually to provide a forum for mutual exchange among representatives from local jurisdictions and key State agencies. The fifth meeting, which is profiled in this report, continued to address the extent to which program practitioners can report and interpret social-indicator data in a way that is useful both to their local agencies and to State drug policy and program officials. The meeting included presentations that described the nature and extent of the drug problem in Maryland, discussions of initiatives to collect additional data on the drug problem, descriptions of programs that address specific problems that were identified using social indicators, and a panel discussion on the issues of drug use and violence in Baltimore. This report also includes an SEWG membership list, the agenda for the meeting, a list of attenders, and a summary of the evaluations of the meeting.