RUNNING HEAD: DRUG OUTREACH PROGRAM FEASIBILITY STUDY

Drug Outreach Program Feasibility Study

Chad Goss
Sharon Stetov
Vincent Tong
Tre Hawkins
Matthew Gardner
Eleanor Chambers
Miami University

October 31, 2016

RUNNING HEAD: DRUG OUTREACH PROGRAM FEASIBILITY STUDY

Introduction
Drug outreach programs are dedicated in providing resources for individuals that are in
need of recovery in substance abuse related issues. With drug overdoses being the top killer in
Butler County, Butler Outreach Program (BOP) believes it is vital for the community to take
action. Butler Outreach Program plans to provide an organization that acts as a resource and
outlet for these individuals suffering from substance abuse. This drug outreach program will
target individuals in Oxford, Ohio, and it will aim to educate those individuals in the effects of
drug abuse, as well as provide assistance for those in need of recovery. BOP is a group of
concerned students who have come together in order to help eliminate various substance abuse
behaviors that have occurred on Miamis campus as well as in the surrounding area.
Review of Background
This type of program is crucial to the Miami University area as well as the surrounding
area known as Butler County. Miami University is home to one of the country's oldest
universities. In 2014 the population was 18,456 students on Miamis campus and the average age
was between 21-24 years old in Oxford Ohio. Most of the programs at Miami University are
through the school and many individuals might feel that the information is not confidential.
Another issue with Miami sponsored programs is that they are very costly. The surrounding area
of Miami, Butler County, has made significant efforts in increasing the amount of programs that
drug abusers have available to them. However, many of the programs only focus on one specific
drug at a time rather than addressing the use of multiple drugs at a time. BOP is going to change
this; BOP is going to educate and help individuals overcome their drug abuse problems.
Miami University has some drug outreach programs available to students and the local
community. Miami University has a three step program to help students that are dealing with
substance abuse problems. The first step is the Substance Use Assessment where students can go
if they are found in violation of multiple alcohol or drug policies on campus. After the
assessment students have two choices of group therapy that they may attend that is through the
school or they are forced to go to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings near by. The help that
students get is very limited and very costly. Many individuals also do not feel comfortable
attending meetings with random individuals.
Our drug outreach program will focus on education as well as provide assistance for
those in need of recovery. BOP will do this by travelling to local schools as well as educating
different groups on campus about the unsafe use of drugs and the scary realities that come about
when dealing with an addiction problem. BOP will have several psychologists on site to help
facilitate different substance abuse evaluations to help determine which program is right for the
specific individual. BOP wants to emphasize the idea that it is working for free and that it is a
fully confidential source for all to use.
One of the largest problems in this area is the use of heroin. According to
http://www.letsfaceheroinbc.org, [i]n 2014, 75% of deaths investigated by the Butler County
Coroner were heroin-related. And 46% of those treated for substance use in Butler County
abused heroin. These are alarming numbers for any part of the country, but these are in our own
backyard. The amount of people who are abusing this drug in Butler County is far too large to
not garner attention. What is perhaps more shocking is the fact that in 2015, there were 149

RUNNING HEAD: DRUG OUTREACH PROGRAM FEASIBILITY STUDY

total overdose heroin deaths in Butler County. Today, that number has grown more than 500% in
three years (letsfaceheroinbc.org). The growth of this drug and the impact that it has on the
community cannot be understated. Due to the dramatic rise in usage and deaths, BOP feel that it
is our responsibility to take action. Our organization is prepared to tackle this threat head on,
and BOP wants to reverse the trend that Butler County is currently on.
While heroin may be the largest issue that is facing the surround community, alcohol is
the drug of choice when it comes to Miami students. This poses another major problem for the
area seeing as the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism points out that every
year, [a]bout 1,825 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 die from alcohol-related
unintentional injuries. Furthermore, alcohol leads to around 696,000 assaults and 97,000 sexual
assaults on people of the same age group each year (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and
Alcoholism).
Method
To gather data for this feasibility study, BOP elected to survey members of the Miami
community for their input. BOP created a Google Survey with 13 questions in a mixture of
multiple choice, likert scale, and choose all that apply questions. The survey was distributed
primarily to students within the class and associates of the survey takers.
BOP asked questions directed to find out what kind of drugs were used on and off
campus, how the survey recipients viewed local opinions on drugs and alcohol, and how often
recipients used drugs and alcohol. BOP also directed questions toward discovering what
students opinion of current drug abuse resources were and whether they viewed a non-university
drug abuse non-profit to be a better choice than current resources.
BOP used the survey data to compile the series of graphs found in the results section with
an emphasis on clarity of data. A variety of graph formats were used in order to present the data
as clearly as it could be, and BOP then used the data in these graphs to form our results and
conclusion. This gave us an excellent visualization of our survey results.
Results
After conducting the survey, BOP found many interesting results. The most relevant data
from Figure 1 is that usage rates for marijuana, tobacco, cocaine, and alcohol were very high - all
of these are potential targets for an outreach program. In addition, BOP found that 52% of the
people surveyed used drugs or alcohol at least once a week (Figure 2). A majority indicated that
they felt there was a drug abuse problem at Miami University (Figure 4), and an overwhelming
majority believed there was a drug abuse problem in the surrounding area (Figure 5). The survey
also showed that 88% of those surveyed indicated a drug outreach program not affiliated with the
university would be a benefit to the community (Figure 6). The results of the survey were
consistent with the viability of an outreach program, although drug usage rates among those
surveyed was higher than anticipated.

RUNNING HEAD: DRUG OUTREACH PROGRAM FEASIBILITY STUDY

Figure 1. This shows the variety of drugs that are used by the participants. Alcohol is by far the
most used.

Figure 2. A significant portion of participants use drugs once or twice a week. The next biggest
percentages are either those who use drugs less than once a week or not at all.

RUNNING HEAD: DRUG OUTREACH PROGRAM FEASIBILITY STUDY

Figure 3. Almost half say that they dont use drugs. This may indicate that most people that
answered earlier in the survey use alcohol since the percentages dont quite match up with the
previous figure.

Figure 4. A majority of people believe that there is a drug abuse problem at Miami University.

RUNNING HEAD: DRUG OUTREACH PROGRAM FEASIBILITY STUDY

Figure 5. A large majority of people believe that drugs are a problem in the surrounding area,
which is supported by the fact that over 31 people per 100,000 in Butler County died due to
unintentional drug overdoses in 2015. (healthy.ohio.gov)

Figure 6. Almost everybody in the survey thought that an independent non-profit drug assistance
program would be beneficial for Miami University and the surrounding area.
Discussion
Our survey has very valuable results. Our results indicate that 88% of the participants
believe that Miami and the surrounding area would benefit from an independent non-profit drug
assistance program. The area that BOP is focusing on, specifically Miami University, has a very
limited amount of resources available to those who need proper education and resources to help
combat their drug or alcohol use.
A little more than three fourths of the class believes that there is a drug problem at Miami
University as well as the surrounding area. This statistic allows our non-profit to come in and

RUNNING HEAD: DRUG OUTREACH PROGRAM FEASIBILITY STUDY

help the surrounding area with multiple outreach programs, with some specifically targeted
toward the surrounding area of Miami and some specific to Butler County. Alcohol and
marijuana were reported the most used drugs in Figure 1. Our non-profit will focus on those
drugs as well as others that may have not been reported in our study but are still relevant
throughout this area.
Our research also indicated that many individuals would not be willing to step in if they
believe that someone they knew had a substance abuse problem. This could be because many
individuals believe that they do not know how to safely intervene without the thought of losing a
close friend. Our program will focus on general education across all ages on how to approach a
substance abuse problem and how to intervene to allow those around you to know that you care
and are there to help.
BOP is looking into providing a office space in which individuals can attend group
meetings as well as individual counseling and support for their specific needs. BOP will also be
able to travel to local high schools and middle schools and provide the necessary education to
inform the surrounding area of the negative effects of drugs and alcohol.
BOP foresees this underdoing as being worthy any legal battles BOP finds itself in. BOP
will be extremely focused on protecting the information of the patients that seek treatment. Their
confidentiality will be one of the cornerstones that BOP is founded on. In order to create a safe
and welcoming environment in which people feel free to be open, it is paramount that they feel
protected within our walls. Furthermore, if a legal issue were to arise from our failure to assist
someone or from a breach of confidentiality it would be the duty of our lawyers to protect BOP.
This is why there is a dedicated amount of funds being used to pay for any possible legal issues
that may arise.
This is an issue that hits home. In order to see long run growth and success it is
paramount to find people who will make the mission of BOP their personal mission as well. A
dedicated staff will give life to the BOP and rather than making it just a non profit outreach
program, they will make BOP a living entity capable of true change. Seeking qualified people
who care so much about this problem may not be the easiest task in the world, but in order to
avoid failure over time or the watering down of the mission of BOP, it is critical that the primary
quality for people is care. People who care will be the foundation for BOP, and they will enable
BOP to create impacts for years to come.
Beyond this BOP has a bright future. Butler County is in dire need of a program to cut
down on the drug problem that is sweeping through the area. By beginning strong and
establishing a strong presence in the community it will be used to bring people in from the entire
region to face their demons. While there may be pushback from those who profit from drugs,
BOPs mission is to save people. Saving people will be the cornerstone upon which BOP is built.
With this as the crux of the future, BOP will use its dedicated staff to forge a new bond with the
people of Butler County and face down those who seek to make a profit from the suffering of
those who are under their influence and addicted to life threatening drugs.
Limitations on Research Design
Our data was limited in several ways: first, our data had a sample size of 25, which is
relatively small for our purposes. Second, many of the responses were from students directly
associated with the survey creators, which creates poor sample variety. Third, BOP associated
alcohol and drugs together in our questions, which may have diluted responses. In a college

RUNNING HEAD: DRUG OUTREACH PROGRAM FEASIBILITY STUDY

town where partying is heavily normalized, alcohol usage is the norm (as indicated by our
survey) while hard drugs are rare. Casual alcohol use is not necessarily our target demographic
and this may have skewed our data towards alcohol users.
In addition, very few - if any - responses are from community residents not associated
with the university - a non-profit clinic would naturally serve the Oxford community, and drug
problems may be more prevalent in the community (which is the popular opinion according to
survey results) than on the university itself. Surveying local townspeople may provide a more
diverse (and well-represented) set of responses.
Lastly, surveys such as these require recipients to self-report - and any self-reported data
may be skewed for a variety of reasons including joke answers, legitimate addicts who are in
denial of their condition and report negatively, recipients who misunderstand the question and
answer incorrectly, as well as other various reasons for misentered or invalid data. It is difficult
or impossible to differentiate this data from legitimate data.
Conclusion
According to our research, the data BOP has indicates that a drug outreach program in
Oxford is feasible and desired by the community. BOP has evidence that there is a relatively
high rate of drug and alcohol usage in Oxford - especially among students - and that drug usage
among town residents is perceived to be an issue. Additionally, BOP has shown that the
community does not trust a university-sponsored program (or any current programs) to meet
their needs and would prefer a local non-profit to fill that role. Lastly, an overwhelming majority
of survey takers felt that there was a need for a new local nonprofit to educate and reform drug
and alcohol abusers.
In summary, this data proves that our project is a feasible idea within the local
community and also a desired one. There is strong public demand for such a program (especially
one not affiliated with the town or university), and it may be possible to get community financial
or commodity support for the endeavor as well.

RUNNING HEAD: DRUG OUTREACH PROGRAM FEASIBILITY STUDY

Works Cited
"2015 Ohio Drug Overdose Data: General Findings." Ohio Department of Health. N.p., n.d.
Web.
31 Oct. 2016.
http://www.healthy.ohio.gov/-/media/HealthyOhio/ASSETS/Files/injury-prevention/2015-Overd
ose-Data/2015-Ohio-Drug-Overdose-Data-Report-FINAL.pdf?la=en
"College Drinking | National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)." U.S
National
Library of Medicine. U.S. National Library of Medicine, Dec. 2015. Web. 31 Oct. 2016.
http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/CollegeFactSheet/CollegeFactSheet.pdf
Heroin use in Butler and surrounding counties is not only on the rise, but it's taking lives at
unprecedented levels. (2016, August 16). Retrieved October 31, 2016, from
http://www.letsfaceheroinbc.org/
Appendices
The following url is the link to the survey:
https://docs.google.com/a/miamioh.edu/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdMK13wO5Voi4V9e-Z7D2xEh6n
RHC2-zK5dfsrj5zbhz74rOw/viewform