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Information System (NFLIS) from reporting by local, State, and Federal forensic laboratories to the Drug Enforcement Agency on drugs identified in seizure samples. National Seizure System (NSS) from reporting by law enforcement agencies to the El Paso Intelligence Center (EPIC) on drug seizures. OCDETF Management Information Systems (MIS) from drug seizure activity reported by law enforcement agencies working OCDETF investigations, cases, and initiatives. Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) from reporting by law enforcement agencies to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on crime data. Consolidated Counterdrug Database (CCDB) from U.S. agencies and foreign partners involved in transit zone cocaine interdiction and trafficking events to a curated interagency database on cocaine. « « « « « « 110 NATIONAL DRUG CONTROL STRATEGY in death investigation, and improving their integration with death certificate information is currently undergoing development. In addition, technological solutions are also an option, for example, using computer code to review the literal text419 in death certificates for specific mention of drugs like fentanyl or methamphetamine that do not have their own ICD codes. Additionally, the Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS) collects data on specialty SUD treatment admissions, transfers, and discharges, including diagnoses, demographic information, and type of care received. These data are reported to states by publicly funded SUD treatment providers, compiled by states and, in turn, reported to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). In addition to the federally funded data sources noted above, there are underutilized or still developing data systems that need to be mined for drug content. For example, the National Emergency Medical Services Information System (NEMSIS)420 can be harnessed for drug overdose data (see Inset box), and the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS)421 can provide data on drug involvement in fatal traffic crashes. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS)422 contains fatal and non-fatal injury data. In addition, the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System-Cooperative Adverse Drug Event Surveillance Project (NEISS-CADES) by the Consumer Product Safety Commission and CDC, began to include the involvement of drugs or alcohol in its tracking of injuries and adverse drug events.423 The Overdose Map Detection Program (ODMAP),424 currently covering specific areas, can be used for tracking non-fatal overdoses in some local areas. This is similarly true for infectious disease data sets such as the National HIV Behavioral Surveillance (NHBS) collected by CDC which periodically assesses HIV-related information from persons who inject drugs. Some of these reporting systems are voluntary and rely upon the contributing partners for timely and accurate reporting. These then require statistical adjustments by the collecting agency for missing reports in order to yield data that are nationally representative. Some Emergency Medical Services Data in Near-Real Time Nationwide emergency medical services (EMS) reporting, such as that aggregated and maintained by NHTSA’s NEMSIS, have standardized patient care reporting across more than 11,000 EMS agencies in 49 US states, which represented 87-percent of all EMS activations nationally in 2020. EMS data have been used as a source of near real time drug environment surveillance information. Characteristics of 911 caller complaints, EMS providers’ impressions, patients’ primary symptoms, and receipt of naloxone correlate strongly with trends in drug overdose deaths. Data from EMS patient encounters are submitted electronically in near real time, allowing for rapid surveillance of trends that can be stratified by characteristics such as race/ethnicity, geography, urbanicity, and neighborhood poverty level. ONDCP has engaged with NHTSA to determine how EMS databases may be better utilized at state and national levels in an early warning capacity to give public health and law enforcement officials rapid and current information regarding changing overdose trends. « « « « « « NATIONAL DRUG CONTROL STRATEGY 111 data systems, such as Consolidated Counterdrug Database (CCDB) and National Seizure System (NSS), also have to deconflict reports where more than one enforcement agency is involved in the same interdiction event or seizure incident. To strengthen these systems, a strong partnership with the States or other parties that collect and contribute data is essential. The federal government does not have the authority to make reporting mandatory for state, local, and Tribal governments, but can make reporting a necessary condition for organizations receiving High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) or other federal funding. Increased use of in-kind incentives to improve data quality, such as training, hardware, and software solutions to augment limited local resources, can be harnessed to improve accuracy and timeliness of these data that are not under the full control of the federal agencies compiling them.