In attempts to further our understanding of why and how people use drugs, DCR focuses on social factors and individuals motivations towards drug initiation, continuation, and escalation. The lab has a specific focus on synthetic and novel psychoactive drugs. We seek to better understand the social contexts and settings of substance use including modes of administration and dosage, knowledge about the effects of drug use and source(s) of this knowledge, the role of peer networks, and polysubstance use. Additionally, we are interested in patterns of use including factors that influence drug transitions, continuance and desistance, the role of drug scenes and networks, and the effect of perceived safety on onset of use patterns. We also consider the impact of drug market factors such as sources and availability of supply, costs, perceived purity, adulterations, and price fluctuation. Last, we focus on innovations, policy, and the harms and risks including users’ perceptions and experiences of social, legal, health, and behavioral consequences.

In addition to studying factors leading to drug use, DCR also conducts research into understanding pathways to recovery.  The goal is to better understand treatment and recovery perceptions, access to treatment, perceptions of harm reduction strategies, and effective programming. Specifically focusing on justice-involved individuals in recovery, DCR projects include evaluating jail-based recovery programs, treatment courts, and alternative to incarceration treatment programs for individuals with substance use disorders.

Illicit fentanyl is becoming more rampant in recent years among drug trafficking networks, especially being mixed in with other illicit drugs. Therefore, fentanyl offers a unique opportunity to understand how existing drug trafficking networks adapt to new substances entering the market and how this alters their product distribution, business, and relationships. An understanding of the dynamic behavior of modern distribution networks in response to fentanyl’s introduction is imperative since many available data sets and previous work is often based on old case files not reflecting modern changes or complete understanding of these networks.

The team is actively engaged in research to better understand how illicit drug networks form, operate, and restructure after disruption. Through interviews with law enforcement at the local, state, and federal level, the team seeks to provide insight into how to best disrupt illicit drug networks. With a partnership involving Clemson Engineering, modeling of illicit drug networks is ongoing.