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These are graphics of brain scans showing the changes that happen in the brain when a child is successful at achieving a reward. Areas of the brain that are most active are highlighted in red and yellow.

NIDA's Scientific Findings & Achievements of 2018

January 07, 2019
As we enter 2019, it is a good time to take stock of what NIDA accomplished over the past year. As always when I look back at the research being done by NIDA grantees and partners, I am amazed at the wealth of knowledge being created from our investments. Here I want to highlight just a few of the many outstanding developments in basic science, new therapeutics, and epidemiology and prevention research from the year that just ended. Read More.

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Recent Posts

New Regulations on Flavored Tobacco Products and e-Cigarettes Will Protect Public Health

May 2016
Despite great successes in reducing tobacco use over the past five decades, smoking leads to more than 480,000 deaths in the United States annually and remains the number-one preventable cause of sickness and mortality. Unfortunately, a new generation of young Americans is being introduced to tobacco via flavored tobacco products (small cigars, hookahs) and e-cigarettes, which until now have been subject to none of the federal oversight that apply to cigarettes. Read More.

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The CDC Provides Crucial New Guidance on Opioids and Pain

April 2016
Although these medications have a legitimate and important role in the treatment of severe acute pain and some severe chronic pain conditions, it is clear that they are also overprescribed or prescribed without adequate safeguards and monitoring. Read More.

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A Major Step Forward for Addiction Medicine

March 2016
A major milestone was reached on March 14, 2016, when the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) formally announced recognition of the field of Addiction Medicine as a medical subspecialty. Read More.

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Intervening Early to Prevent Substance Use Disorders

March 2016
The brain is an organ that adapts in both short- and long-term ways to its environment, and prevention science over the past few decades has shown clearly that a person’s early experiences during the first few years of life and even prenatally can have an enormous impact on an individual’s later risk or resilience for drug abuse and related psychiatric conditions. Read More.

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NIDA's 2016-2020 Strategic Plan

February 2016
Over the last four decades, NIDA-supported research has revolutionized our understanding of drug use and addiction, driving a new understanding of the neurobiological, genetic, epigenetic, social, and environmental factors that contribute to substance use disorders. Read More.

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Image of bottles of alcohol with a figure in the background holding a drink

Saving a “Lost Generation”: The Need to Prevent Drug and Alcohol Abuse in Midlife

January 2016
By Dr. Nora Volkow (NIDA) and Dr. George Koob (NIAAA)- We have long expcted to see increasing substance use in middle and later life with the aging of baby boomers—a demographic that traditionally had a more relaxed attitude to substance use. A recent study funded by the National Institute on Aging reveals the unexpected enormity of the problem and its disastrous consequences for a generation of Americans. Read More.

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Photo of Bill Williams and his son William Head Williams

Listening to the Dead

January 2016
Guest blog by Bill Williams - a reminder of the devastating and incomprehensible experiences faced by families who are fighting the disease of addiction. Read More.

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Encouraging News from Monitoring the Future

December 2015
Revealing the results of the annual Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey of drug use and attitudes among American middle- and high-school students is an annual mid-December ritual at NIDA. This year the results were mostly positive, giving us cause for encouragement. Read More.

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A Personal Story of Despair and Hope, and the Origin of the Jacob P. Waletzky Award

December 2015
A guest blog by Jeremy Waletzky, MD. Every year since 2003, NIDA has honored a young career scientist with the Society for Neuroscience Jacob P. Waletzky Memorial Award for Innovative Research in Drug Addiction and Alcoholism. This award would not be possible without the generosity of the Waletzky Family, who in memory of their son, wanted to recognize research contributions in the area of drug addiction or alcoholism, and the nervous system. Read More.

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NARCAN Nasal Spray: Life-Saving Science at NIDA

November 2015
The FDA announced its approval of the NARCAN Nasal Spray, an intranasal naloxone formula that can immediately restore normal breathing in a person overdosing on prescription opioids or heroin and thus save their life. Read More.