NIDA constituent groups have a lot to say about NIDA's activities, and the Institute is taking note.
Each year at NIDA's constituent conference, members of national groups in the field of drug abuse take on the role of advisors, providing invaluable advice and feedback to the Institute, noted NIDA Director Dr. Alan I. Leshner at this year's gathering. In what has become an important part of the 2-day meeting, constituents split up into work groups to focus on specific drug abuse issues. Out of their discussions come recommendations to NIDA program staff about research and other activities they think the Institute should undertake or strengthen to advance its public health mission.
After the conference, NIDA carefully sifts through these recommendations, folding them into the many research and program initiatives it implements every year. At the next constituent conference, NIDA reports on the actions it has taken in direct response to the input it received at previous conferences. NIDA calls this detailed list of activities its "Report Card."
This year's Report Card lists 109 NIDA activities that address constituents' recommendations. Below is a sampling of these activities.
- Established a Memorandum of Understanding with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to collaborate in information exchange and dissemination, planning NIDA's health services research program, collaborative research and services projects, and facilitating linkages between researchers and service providers.
- Teamed with Howard University Research Center in Washington, D.C., to sponsor a meeting with faculty and staff from historically black colleges and universities who are forming a consortium to research substance abuse and other health issues among women on black college campuses.
- Is expanding its home page on the World Wide Web, and its links to constituency group Web sites and will continue to add more education materials to its Web site.
- Launched a new Children and Adolescents Initiative with two major components: preventing drug use and preventing individuals, their offspring, and society from suffering the health consequences of drug abuse.
- Launched a major Treatment Initiative to increase dramatically the quality and extent of drug treatment and to foster the interchange of useful information on drug addiction treatment.
- Published the first ever science-based guide to drug abuse prevention, Preventing Drug Use Among Children and Adolescents.
- Is funding a Resource Center that will enhance NIDA's resources and strengthen its ability to identify and answer key research questions about the financing, organization, costs, and outcomes of drug abuse treatment and prevention services.
- Coordinated the development of abstracts on key research related to drug abuse and HIV/AIDS for the 1998 World AIDS Conference in Geneva to highlight and present U.S. research findings in this area.