saprp:

Over the past 14 years, the Substance Abuse Policy Research Program (SAPRP) of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has supported vital research that has informed the public and policy debate on major issues around alcohol, tobacco and drug use and abuse.

On Friday, October 2, at 12:00 p.m. representatives from SAPRP will present a Congressional briefing on Substance Abuse Policy at the Capitol Visitors Center:  ”What We Know and Where We Need to Go.”

This briefing will identify existing evidence that can be acted upon now and highlight the major outstanding questions that must be explored during the next five years in alcohol, tobacco and drug policy research.  The briefing will benefit policy makers, advocacy groups and key agencies like the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, and the Department of Justice.

As the briefing is delivered, SAPRP will be sending out tweets from our twitter account.  Please follow us on Twitter to receive updates from the Briefing as it unfolds.  In addition, we will have a complete list of tweets and other information about the Briefing here on our blog including pdf versions of the complete Research Agendas and Highlight versions upon conclusion of the event.

If you need help creating a Twitter account and following SAPRP, please contact socialnetworkguru@saprp.org.  There is no charge for this service.

Speakers and Panelists:

A. Thomas (Tom) McLellan, Ph.D., Deputy Director, Office of National Drug Control Policy, will moderate the session, drawing on his expertise in addiction research. He will highlight the problem of substance abuse, discuss the importance of policy decisions informed by evidence and introduce the following panel of experts:

Tobacco:  Michael Cummings, Ph.D., M.P.H., Roswell Park Cancer Institute, will speak about regulation, pricing, marketing, smoke-free air laws and cessation treatments.

Alcohol:  Harold Holder, Ph.D., Prevention Research Center, Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE), will speak about data collection, prevention, availability and pricing.

Drug Prevention:  Marjorie Gutman, Ph.D., SAPRP Co-Director, will speak about criminal justice, prevention policies in schools and among youth, prescription drug abuse and clinical trials for drug prevention.

Treatment:  Dennis McCarty, Ph.D., Oregon Health and Science University, will speak about delivery and quality of substance abuse treatment, integration with primary care and patient-centered “medical homes”, disparities and cost of care.

David Colby, Ph.D., Vice President of Research and Evaluation at RWJF, will summarize the panel discussion and key lessons learned from the Foundation’s investment in this area.

Full copies of the research agenda and highlights will be available on our blog after the briefing.