National Emerging Threats Initiative 

The National Emerging Threats Initiative (NETI) is focused on intelligence sharing and best practices which address emerging drug threats and their associated issues and problems of concern. NETI provides support in the identification, coordination, and implementation of a HIDTA strategy for emerging drug-related threats affecting designated HIDTA areas and the rest of the United States.

NETI accomplishes this by identifying emerging drug threats and their patterns, as well as addressing each threat through the use of best practices and promoting cooperation among public safety, public health, regulators, treatment, and prevention entities.

In this context and specifically related to pharmaceutical abuse, NETI will work with law enforcement and others to develop measures and establish a methodology that, when applied to PDMP data, identifies characteristics of criminal behavior involved in obtaining, prescribing, and dispensing opioid and other prescriptions. NETI supports the application of these characteristics in developing unsolicited reports and will assist law enforcement in exploiting this information.

NETI will also develop the methodology for law enforcement reporting tools so that   national and state efforts can receive feedback regarding the effectiveness of investigations initiated from unsolicited reporting.

In addition, NETI will also engage with other stakeholders, to include the Federation of State Medical Boards and other healthcare professions’ licensing boards, to distinguish probable professional misconduct that should be referred to licensing boards.

The NETI initiative receives ongoing guidance on the status of threats and suggested strategies from a subject matter expert (SME) committee. In addition, the HDC provides programmatic oversight to the initiative through the NETI Oversight Sub-Committee representing the six HIDTA regions. NETI is also an initiative under the administrative/fiscal oversight of the National HIDTA Assistance Center (NHAC).

Although NETI is not a training initiative, it may on occasion be asked to provide HIDTA funded or sponsored training. If so, it will be reported to the NHAC.