SBIR-STTR Award

Laws, regulations and policies play a significant role in prevention and treatment of drug abuse. They also have unintended impacts on drug users' behavior and the risk environments they inhabit. Scientifically valid legal data is the starting point for the evaluation of the health impact of laws, policies and their implementation. This project will use scientifically sound, transparent methods to collect code and publish laws, regulations and other formalized policies relevant to prescription drug abuse in a state-of-the-art interactive, web-based Drug Abuse Policy Surveillance System. Coding will encompass key variables of interest for each legal text, and will be accomplished using a content management system designed specifically for efficiently and accurately coding, publishing and updating legal data in longitudinal datasets. Data, accompanied by code books and detailed research/coding protocols will be available for download to and compatible with commonly used statistical software. All data will also be publically accessible in multiple formats (maps, tables, term-searchable database) on a fully interactive website. LSP's Monocle content management system includes a unique software platform for coding laws, regulations and policies ("The Workbench), which it an then publish through an API to custom websites, apps and data systems. The applicants have successfully built and populated LawAtlas, a public policy surveillance web portal, and a Prescription Drug Abuse Policy System (PDAPS) for NIDA, which will be launched early in 2015. The project's approach and software tools have a high potential for commercial application in other policy areas and market sectors. LSP's Monocle platform is currently commercialized for use by researchers, non-governmental organizations, corporations and state and county health departments to create health policy data for monitoring, evaluation, strategic planning and community engagement. Significant further commercial potential exists in other sectors (transportation, legal, energy, environmental, international development) to research, analyze, monitor, evaluate and/or visualize data regarding statutes, regulations and/or administrative rules on any topic.

Public Health Relevance Statement:


Public Health Relevance:
Laws, regulations and policies play a significant role in prevention and treatment of drug abuse. They also have unintended impacts on drug users' behavior and the risk environments they inhabit. This project will use scientifically sound, transparent methods to collect, code and publish laws, regulations and other formalized policies relevant to drug abuse in a state-of-the-art interactive, web-based Drug Abuse Policy Surveillance System.

NIH Spending Category:
Bioengineering; Drug Abuse (NIDA only); Networking and Information Technology R&D; Prescription Drug Abuse; Prevention; Substance Abuse

Project Terms:
Architecture; Area; Books; Code; Collection; commercial application; Communities; Computer software; County; Custom; Data; Data Set; Databases; design; Development; Disasters; Doctor of Philosophy; Documentation; Drug abuse; drug driving; Drug user; Ensure; Environment; Evaluation; flexibility; Florida; Graph; Health; Health Policy; Information Systems; Institutes; interest; International; Laws; Legal; Letters; Maintenance; Manuals; Maps; marijuana legalization; Marketing; medication-assisted treatment; Methadone; Methods; Monitor; National Institute of Drug Abuse; Online Systems; operation; Phase; Play; Policies; prescription drug abuse; Prevention; Privacy; Procedures; professor; Protocols documentation; prototype; Public Health; public health relevance; Public Policy; Publications; Publishing; quality assurance; Quality Control; Recovery; Regulation; Reporting; Research; Research Personnel; Resources; Retrieval; Risk Behaviors; Role; Rosa; Science; Secure; Security; Services; Site; Software Tools; sound; Strategic Planning; Structure; Surveys; System; Techniques; Technology; Testing; Text; Time; tool; Transportation; Travel; treatment program; Universities; Update; user-friendly; web interface; web portal; web site; wiki

The United States has relied on state legislation as a primary tool to address the rising health toll of opioid misuse. Interventions including prescription drug monitoring systems, third-party naloxone administration laws and Good Samaritan 911 provisions are a key elements of a comprehensive response. Evaluating these interventions to see what laws, and specific elements of laws, make a difference, is crucial – but difficult. Legal Science, LLC (LS) plays a unique role in supporting better tracking and evaluation of law. The company is founded on the principles of Policy Surveillance – the systematic, scientific tracking of laws of public health significance. In March of 2016, LS launched the MonQcle, a SaaS software platform that allows 1) building empirical policy data with scientific codebooks and protocols; 2) storing of these data in a redundant, scalable database; and 3) publishing via an integrated CMS with maps, tables and data visualization tools. For Phase II, we propose to significantly expand the MonQcle to include a Health Outcome Policy Evaluation (HOPE) laboratory. The MonQcle powers the Prescription Drug Abuse Policy System (PDAPS) and the Drug Abuse Policy System (DAPS), launching early, 2017. We propose a new policy analysis paradigm to streamline and accelerate the assessment of policy impact. We will use human-centered design principles to design the dashboard. Using the application programming interface (API) we will include the storage and retrieval of drug related outcome data, including import, export, computational and visual design and display features. We will integrate a suite of publically available longitudinal outcomes data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health and CDC’s WONDER with the existing drug policy data including pdmp’s, naloxone, Good Samaritan, methadone-assisted treatment, drugged driving and medical and recreational marijuana laws. In partnership with researchers from Battelle Memorial Institute’s (Battelle) LS will extend the Phase I Daps to include a generic HOPE architecture and subsequently deploy a unique substance use specific policy lab called DOPE – Drug Outcome Policy Evaluation. DOPE will be a researcher friendly, extension of Daps that facilitates overlay of health outcome data on state policy data, as well as integrated computational functionality in R to rank policies or policy features across states and measure their effects on population health. Collaborators from Battelle’s Advanced Analytics and Health Research (AAHR) team will assess the impact of key state legal interventions on reducing the opiate epidemic. Using DOPE, the team will examine a set of research questions including but not limited to: 1) When policies for Naloxone access, Good Samaritan protections, PDMP, medication assisted treatment with methadone and/or drugged driving are in place, does it decrease the rate of drug-related deaths (all drugs)? 2) Do policies related to legalizing marijuana (for recreation or medical purposes) show a change in marijuana use and risk perception Finally, 3) what suite of policies yields the greatest reduction in the rate of drug-related deaths? Lastly, together the teams will address a suite of research questions about the functionality, efficiency, feasibility of DOPE.

Public Health Relevance Statement:
The proposed Drug Outcome Policy Evaluation laboratory (DOPE) will allow analysts and legislators to assess the legal landscape and estimate which laws and features of those laws are most instrumental in helping to reduce and reverse the effects of drug misuse and abuse on the health of millions of Americans.

Project Terms:
Address; Adopted; Alcohol or Other Drugs use; American; application programming interface; Architecture; Businesses; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.); Cessation of life; Collaborations; Computer software; dashboard; Data; data reduction; Data Set; Data Sources; data visualization; Databases; Delphi Technique; design; Drug abuse; drug driving; drug misuse; Drug Monitoring; Drug Prescriptions; Drug usage; Elements; Epidemic; Evaluation; Funding; Generic Drugs; Graph; Health; health data; Heroin; Human; Imagery; Impact evaluation; indexing; Influentials; Institutes; interest; Interruption; Intervention; Laboratories; laboratory facility; Laws; Legal; Legal Intervention; Letters; Maps; Marijuana; marijuana legalization; marijuana use; Measures; Medical; medication-assisted treatment; Methadone; Modernization; Monitor; Naloxone; National Institute of Drug Abuse; novel therapeutics; operation; Opiates; opioid misuse; Outcome; Pharmaceutical Preparations; Phase; Play; Policies; Policy Analysis; population health; prescription drug abuse; Process; programs; Protocols documentation; Public Health; Publishing; Recreation; reduced substance abuse; Research; research and development; Research Personnel; response; Retrieval; risk perception; Role; Science; Series; Shapes; Small Business Innovation Research Grant; Software Tools; Statistical Data Interpretation; Statutes and Laws; Substance abuse problem; Surveys; System; Techniques; Technology; Testing; Time; tool; United States; United States Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration; Universities; Visual; Visualization software; web site; Work