SJS 2016: Opioid and Other Substance Use Among New Mexico's Probationers and Parolees

The State Justice Statistics (SJS) Program is designed to maintain and enhance each state's capacity to address criminal justice issues through collection and analysis of data. The SJS Program provides support to each state to coordinate and conduct statistical activities within the state, conduct research to estimate impacts of legislative and policy changes, and serve as a liaison in assisting BJS to gather data from respondent agencies within their states.

The New Mexico Criminal Justice Analysis Center began operation in June 1988 and later changed its name to the New Mexico Statistical Analysis Center (NMSAC). NMSAC is located within the Institute for Social Research (ISR) at the University of New Mexico. NMSAC is responsible for providing data and technical assistance to criminal justice planners, improving the quality and usefulness of research and planning for criminal justice agencies, and increasing communication between state criminal justice agencies with regard to common issues of research and analysis. The NMSAC is under the leadership of a SAC director with assistance from graduate students who provide research support.

Under this award, the New Mexico Statistical Analysis Center (NMSAC) will conduct activities under the following Core Capacity area: Other capacity building project identified by the SAC. New Mexico has one of the highest rates of opioid-related overdose deaths in the country. There have been a number of efforts throughout the state aimed at addressing both overdoses and opioid abuse. These efforts include, but are not limited to, legislation to increase access to opiate antagonists and improved use of the Prescription Monitoring Program; implementation of Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program in Santa Fe; the Bernalillo County Opioid Accountability Initiative; and the USAO’s HOPE (Heroin and Opioid Prevention and Education) Initiative. Addressing opioid use and abuse is a priority in New Mexico. At the same time, it is important to be aware of other illicit substances that may affect the community.

The current project will provide information that will support these various efforts and fill an information gap regarding substance use among those under supervision in the state. The SAC will examine substance abuse trends among probationers and parolees to explore whether there have been increases in the use of heroin and other opiates over time, as well as assess any changes in the use of other substances. In addition, The SAC will examine the trends for changing demographics and other characteristics among those who test positive for illicit substances. Lastly, using multivariate analyses with a subset of probationers and parolees, the SAC will examine the characteristics of opioid users and their supervision outcomes relative to non-opioid users. Results from the study will be published in a series of one to two page summaries with graphics to provide a brief description of the findings related to key criminal justice issues impacting the state. Funds are also being requested for SAC staff to attend the NCJA National Forum. (CA/NCF)

Note: This project contains a research and/or development component, as defined in applicable law.