This session will review the MOST up to date, current alcohol and drug trends, including recent findings from national community scans. This session will include these topics: alcohol and drug concealment methods and containers, drug paraphernalia, logos, synthetic drugs, over-the-counter drugs, inhalants, and popular convenience store/gas station drugs. This session will also cover common stash compartments that can be used to hide drugs or other paraphernalia. Certain items have gained popularity in the alcohol and drug scene - which changes every day.
Sessions
General
High in Plain Sight: You Can't Stop What You Don't Know!
-Session Info
Speakers
The Normalization of Sex and Drugs in Social Media
-Session Info
This presentation will educate attendees on the many facets of drug use and abuse and sexual exploitation through the many social media avenues. Deputy Gomez will break down the ways that social media “normalizes” drug use and abuse.
Attendees will be able to:
- Identify drug use in social media
- Demonstrate drug normalization in social media
- Recognize key terms and lingo, referencing drug use / glamorization
- Identify images / pictures associated with drug use
- Recognize the drug associations in social media and how to resolve them
Speakers
Breakout
Why Kids Are Losing It: Decoding Emotional Chaos
-Session Info
The focus will be on emotional immaturity—one of the main causes of many behavioral issues, which is often compounded by drug and alcohol addiction. We’ll explore how to identify emotional immaturity (with case studies) and discuss practical strategies for handling it effectively, especially from a law enforcement perspective.
Speakers
Vaping Trends, Cannabis and Nicotine
-Session Info
Vape pens are sweeping the country, but what is actually inside those vape pens? Vapes contain a variety of different substances such as nicotine, flavored oils without nicotine, marijuana, synthetics, and many others. Marijuana concentrates (including Delta 8 and 10) and vape pens are the perfect marriage.
Concentrates come in oil, wax or crystal form, and the current version of vape pens can work for all three. The baseline when dealing with vape pens is that there are NO ABSOLUTES. Electric devices vaporize a liquid form of nicotine. Many forms of nicotine are found in vape shops, convenience stores, gas stations, grocery outlets, and even alcohol outlets, depending on the state. Vape pens that contain nicotine products can look identical to other pens in the drug world, making it impossible to distinguish what is inside.
Over the last few years, vape pens for drug use have become SUPER popular. They can be colorful, small, interactive, and very discrete, with the latter being a large selling point for these various pens.
Objectives
Participants will be able to:
1. Identify a vaping device
2. Describe how vaping devices are used for drugs
3. Identify safety hazards associated with vaping devices
4. Understand the discretion associated with vaping devices
5. Understand why users prefer vaping devices
Speakers
Shifting Tides: The Continued Evolution of the “Fourth Wave” of America’s Overdose Crisis
-Session Info
Encouraging reports suggest that the tsunami of fentanyl-involved overdose deaths in the U.S. may finally be receding after rising for more than a decade. Fentanyl detection rates have fallen somewhat but fentanyl-associated polysubstance use remains a significant—and still growing—issue that continues to evolve. In addition, overdose mortality data increasingly point to the co-involvement of stimulants (i.e., methamphetamine and cocaine) in fentanyl-related deaths, which has been referred to as the “fourth wave” of the overdose epidemic.
Considering the current and emerging opioid and stimulant use patterns, this presentation will discuss trends in fentanyl positivity rates across the nation and will also focus on the co-detection of methamphetamine, cocaine, and prescription opioids in the population using fentanyl. In addition, positive changes in stimulant use in that same population from more recent times (2023 to 2024) will be compared and discussed. This presentation will also touch on the rising tide of heroin use, particularly in those using fentanyl, and consider recent positivity rate changes. Finally, the most co-detected drugs consumed in the population using fentanyl, over both time and geographical location, will be highlighted.
Speakers
The Secret of Engagement: Building Relationships to Strengthen Families
-Session Info
The premise: "Give a man a fish, and you will feed him for a day; show him how to catch a fish
and feed him for a lifetime."; This training is about what is missing in this statement and how to
bridge the gap.
All of us service providers do what we do to help people. However, some of our efforts go
uncompleted or are unsuccessful. We, as service providers, can struggle to connect,
communicate, and build relationships, why? This training is about our service being offered in
partnership with the clients we serve. When we work in partnership, we have better outcomes,
and it is a more positive experience for all involved.
The goal of this training is to have the attendees leave having a deeper understanding of the
community they are hoping to reach. The attendees can immediately use the information to
strengthen connections and relationships within the community they want to serve.
Speakers
Got Drugs? Now What! - Investing in 'What Works'
-Session Info
Stuck in a rut? Scrambling for time? With every organization being asked to do more with less, resources are stretched thin and competition is high when it comes to sustaining people, programs, and funding. This is not a new phenomenon for community coalitions, but it has not been any easier during the pandemic. It is critical that coalitions meet current and prospective members where they are at, mentor membership on what works (and what doesn’t) in prevention, and recognize that no one individual, program, or organization has all the answers to these wicked problems. Learn from over 22 years of engagement experience, and walk away with samples, resources, and the tools needed to hit the ground running.
Learning Goals:
- Attendees will learn best practices in the engagement of volunteers, key stakeholders, and the community.
- Attendees will learn how to maximize and generate resources in their community to achieve their mission.
- Attendees will learn what works and what doesn’t in prevention, and where to invest their energy for the biggest impact.
Speakers
Louisiana’s Oral Fluid Pilot Program Overview and Future State Wide Program
-Session Info
The presentation will include an introduction and foundation for the program, collection and pharmacokinetics, research design, results, conclusions and future direction.
The main question to be answered "Is oral fluid collection post Miranda effective for DWI investigation?"
Speakers
Fighting Fentanyl: The Noah Rodriguez Story
-Session Info
Over the summer of 2022, Hays County experienced the loss of several high school-aged children due to
fentanyl poisonings. In response, the Sheriff’s Office formed a task force to include other area law
enforcement agencies and the DEA. Sheriff Cutler tasked Deputy Andrews to learn everything he could
possibly learn and present that information to as many people as possible.
Deputy Andrews joined Janel Rodriguez, the founder of the forever15project who lost her son to fentanyl in 2022, to bring a very emotional and moving presentation to anyone and everyone. Together they have presented to more than 25,000 students and adults in more than 350 presentations.
The second portion of the program is done by Janel Rodriguez, who lost her son, Noah Rodriguez, in August of 2022. Janel will discuss what happened to her son on that night and how fentanyl has affected her family. She will cover things a parent can look for and how to get help. She will also share information on how to get involved in your community and how to make a difference in the area you live.
Speakers
The Wide World of Microdosing
-Session Info
This session will give an overview of hallucinogens, methamphetamines, and amphetamines. It will dive into the emerging trend of microdosing and the permeation of microdosing into mainstream society.
