Date of Award

4-30-2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

Department

Mathematics

First Advisor

Dr. Joanna Wares

Second Advisor

Dr. Shweta Ware

Abstract

In Philadelphia, people are experiencing the greatest opioid crisis in a century. Plac- ing the Overdose Prevention Site (OPS) can alleviate this crisis. However, the journey to the successful launch of the first OPS in the USA is rough. It was first accused of having a collision with federal drug laws. While Safehouse won the lawsuit and the OPS was judged to be legal in 2020, other pressure rose afterward such as the against from the public and the COVID19, which delayed the plan to open the OPS. Without solid research on the effectiveness of OPS, we thought it is necessary to provide scientific evidence to support the OPS program. In our research, we apply both the Markov Chain model and the agent-based model to investigate the effectiveness of placing OPSs in Philadelphia. Our final conclusion shows that the OPS can effectively save people from fatally overdosing. In general, we hope to promote the launch of the OPS and also bring out some public health implications for future OPS placement based on our research.

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