Sessions

HIGH IN PLAIN SIGHT: Current Alcohol & Drug Trends including OTC, and Concealment

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Session Info

This workshop goes in-depth on the most current alcohol and drug trends. The Tall Cop will discuss vaping, Delta 8, Delta 10, synthetic forms of THC, over-the-counter drugs, drug concealment methods, paraphernalia,  inhalants, and popular party drugs. 

This session is unique, in that it provides over 70 visual aids for attendees to hold and become familiar with. In today's culture, everything is person-specific and has different meanings to different individuals. Meanwhile, certain items have gained popularity in the alcohol and drug scene - which changes every day.

This session will be uniquely created to the conference, so that it includes the most current information. For each attendee to help prevent youth and adult substance abuse, they MUST know what is going on in their community.

Remember, You Can't Stop What You Don't Know!

Speakers

High Risk Drug Interdiction & Traffic Stops

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Session Info

Attendees will receive extensive power-packed instruction in the latest and safest approaches to motor-vehicle traffic stops designed to apprehend organized gang members, wanted fugitives and major drug-traffickers.  Through the eyes of real in-car camera footage, specialized instruction will be received in high-risk traffic stops and roadside interview techniques designed to detect deceptive behavior.

Instruction on proper canine deployment will be provided to attendees with special emphasis on identifying concealment methods being utilized by gang members and drug-traffickers, while learning the best practices for breaching these hides.

As traffic stops increase, so does the probability that an officer will interdict large shipments of drugs as they are being moved from one location to another. During these interdiction stops, officers are often confronted with potentially dangerous and/or deadly situations while being challenged more today than ever before.  Defiance is the new norm. 

Surviving the complete traffic stop workshop consists of eight modules.  The modules will be presented together, but not necessarily in the following order:

  • Introduction
  • Indicators and Detection Methods
  • Legal Considerations
  • Roadside Interview Techniques
  • Professionalism at the Traffic Stop
  • Passenger Vehicle Concealment Locations
  • Review of Officer Safety Issues
  • Conclusion

Speakers

Current Cannabis, nicotine and other vape trends…What is out there, what is popular and what to look for!

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Speakers

The Normalization and Glamorization of Drugs and Sexual Misconduct through Social Media

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Session Info

This presentation will educate attendees on the many facets of drug use and abuse, sexting, sexualization, and sexual misconduct through the many social media avenues. Deputy Gomez will break down the ways that social media “normalizes” and “glamorizes” drug use and abuse.

Attendees will be able to:

  1. Identify drug use and sexual misconduct in social media
  2. Demonstrate drug and sexuality normalization among youth in social media
  3. Recognize key terms and lingo, referencing drug use / glamorization / sexual behavior
  4. Identify images / pictures associated with drug use and sexting
  5. Recognize the drug/sexual associations in social media and how to resolve them

Speakers

Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Alcohol Compliance Checks and Underage Drinking

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Session Info

The primary purpose of the presentation is to provide a follow-up to a peer reviewed paper published in January 2021 that described an evaluation conducted on underage drinking enforcement and media efforts in South Carolina. The evaluation covered FY 2006 through FY 2016, and the follow-up covers 2017 through 2022. The paper was titled “Alcohol Compliance Checks and Underage Alcohol-Involved Crashes: Evaluation of a Statewide Enforcement Program in South Carolina from 2006 to 2016” and was published in the peer-reviewed journal, Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

Overall, the 2021 longitudinal study showed a decline in drinking and driving crashes for drivers under 21 when compliance checks increased. In FY 2006 (July 1, 2005, to June 30, 2006), the buy rate was 22%; FY 2020 (July 1, 2019, to June 30, 2020), the buy rate was 6.1%. Traffic crashes related to under-21-year-old impaired drivers decreased by 18 to 29% over the ten years of enforcement.

During the COVID pandemic that resulted in a lockdown ordered by South Carolina Governor McMasters beginning in mid-March 2020, compliance checks in South Carolina temporarily ended. Traffic crashes decreased due to reduced traffic flow directly related to the lockdown. As Governor McMasters relieved lockdown conditions, traffic crashes rose. As law enforcement restarted compliance check enforcement in South Carolina, non-compliance rates, often called the buy rate, were found to be higher than in the past several years.

The follow-up study focuses on FY 2017 through FY 2022, emphasizing FY 2021, when alcohol compliance checks were the lowest in South Carolina. Additionally, compliance check data from the Sober Truth in Preventing (STOP) Underage Drinking Act state survey responses from the other SAMHSA Region 4 (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Tennessee) will be compared to South Carolina data.

The presentation will provide insights gathered from law enforcement officers and prevention specialists involved in underage drinking enforcement, public education, and media efforts working in South Carolina during the COVID pandemic. The information can assist in implementing environmental strategies meant to reduce underage consumption of alcohol.

Speakers

Engaging Professionals and Communities in Effective Substance Abuse Prevention

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Session Info

It has never been more important to engage young people in leadership roles in substance misuse prevention, but youth today are facing challenges like never before. In this interactive session, we’ll explore up-to-date best practices for recruiting and engaging the next generation of leaders.

Speakers

And What is This Now?!?- Overview of Detection and Prevalence of Different Street Level Drugs

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Session Info

This session will cover different drug topics including: Synthetic Drugs (M30 pills), Psychedelics, Fake Xanax, Adderall, and stimulants, found on the street. Deputy Graham will use his expertise to explain the detection of these drugs as well as the reason behind the drug use and abuse. 

Speakers

Latest Trends in Emerging Drug Threats

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Session Info

This presentation describes the emerging drug threats currently faced by South Carolina and the United States.  This includes the impacts of drug threats on overdose deaths and law enforcement drug seizures and COVID-19’s impact on drug threats.

Speakers

Breaking Down the Science behind Cannabis Trends

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Session Info

In this presentation, we will review research on the effects of cannabis relevant to the work of prevention and public health professionals.  Prevention strategies and opportunities will be discussed and reviewed.

Objectives:

  1. Participants will be able to identify a screening measure for Cannabis Use Disorder
  2. Participants will be able to describe at least 3 risks/outcomes associated with cannabis use
  3. Participants will be able to identify at least one public health or prevention opportunity/approach for use in their community

Speakers

Fentanyl is Only a Piece of the Polysubstance Use Puzzle

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Session Info

Synthetic opioids, primarily fentanyl, are the driving force behind the overdose epidemic in the U.S., contributing to more than 65% of all drug overdose deaths in 2021. Although opioids continue to dominate the national conversation, the analysis of individual drugs fails to capture the complex patterns of substance use that are more common in real-world settings. This presentation will provide insight into trends in urine drug test (UDT) positivity for fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine, prescription opioids, and heroin among those receiving care in substance use disorder (SUD) treatment settings as well as rates of co-detection of fentanyl among individuals who are positive for illicit drugs (i.e., methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin) or prescription opioids from 2015 through 2022. Because fentanyl analogues are often comingled with fentanyl and have been linked to overdose fatalities themselves, it will also provide insight into the current landscape of fentanyl analogues to reveal some of the underlying complexity of fentanyl use in the U.S. Further, it will provide a more complete picture of polysubstance use in the population positive for fentanyl at the national level and describe how patterns of fentanyl-associated polysubstance use vary geographically. Lastly, xylazine-fentanyl combinations were designated as a national emerging threat earlier this year and current information will be provided on national trends in xylazine use and xylazine-associated polysubstance use among individuals seeking health care. The information in this presentation will be of particular interest to attendees because it is derived from individuals in SUD treatment settings and UDT results from this clinical population significantly and strongly correlate with overdose mortality data reported by the CDC. More broadly, UDT data complement data from public health and law enforcement agencies to provide more complete and timely information on current drug use trends and may inform community response efforts to reduce overdose deaths.

Presentation Objectives

  1. Participants will be able to describe current drug use trends and polysubstance use at the national, regional, and state levels.
  2. Participants will gain an understanding of fentanyl analogues and rates of use among patients in SUD treatment settings and be able to discuss their potential clinical implications.
  3. Participants will be able to describe current patterns of polysubstance use among individuals who use fentanyl and how they vary geographically.

Speakers

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