This program is composed of patients in treatment facilities recruited by Key Informants to complete an anonymous questionnaire which includes questions concerning the patient’s drugs of choice, drug use in the past month, lifetime drug abuse, age at first use, and the primary source of the abused drugs. Cases are defined as self-reported use of a prescription or illicit opioid to get high in the past 30 days. Cases are assigned to the reported 3-digit ZIP code of the patient’s residence.

This study is conducted by Theodore J. Cicero, Ph.D. at Washington University in St. Louis, MO. Other key study personnel include Alethea Paradis, B.A. (QA/QC/Regulatory Manager) and Matthew Ellis, MPE (Masters of Psychiatric Epidemiology).