statewide assessment of Drug use & services (SEADS)

The Statewide Ethnographic Assessment of Drug Use and Services (SEADS) Project was a statewide assessment in Maryland designed to characterize the experiences of people who use drugs (PWUD). The Maryland Department of Health (MDH) funded two research teams—one at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHU) and one at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMD)— to do the following:

  • Characterize the experiences of people who use drugs

  • Examine service gaps PWUD experience and barriers/facilitators to accessing services

  • Assess potential local and regional capacity for expansion of harm reduction programs

Why SEADS?

Effective public health response relies upon local information and resources to support community efforts that ground the voices and experiences of PWUD as critical evidence. In Maryland, there is less data available to inform response to the needs of PWUD within counties outside of Baltimore City. SEADS aimed to generate locally- specific information about drug use and related services from the perspective of PWUD and stakeholders.

The UMD team conducted research in 5 counties in the DC-metro and Southern Maryland region: Prince George’s County, Montgomery County, Calvert County, Charles County, and St Mary’s County.

Findings were clustered into the following thematic areas for each County:

  • Drug use patterns and experiences of people who use drugs

  • County existing service capacity for people who use drugs

  • Service gaps for people who use drugs

  • Potential expansion for harm reduction services

Qualitative findings were made available in a series of publicly accessible reports that could be used as resources for local health departments and anyone who could benefit from these data.

The full reports can be accessed below and on these drives:

SEADS Region 5 - Full reports: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1sjpBP9yaWMLCt7vk6WjUltw-MklpoQTk?usp=drive_link

SEADS Statewide - Full reports:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1zxmJNs1Pa5cWMBf7m92zhkHUykbTK1K2?usp=drive_link