Cover of a NIDA educational booklet.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse is a U.S. agency whose mission is to "lead the Nation in bringing the power of science to bear on drug abuse and addiction"[1]. Image File history File links Sample NIDA publication cover; from http://www. ...

In 1974, NIDA was established with a mandate to carry on the work of the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) and National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (now the National Survey on Drug Use and Health)[2]. A major purpose for NIDA's creation was to comply with the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances provision that "Parties shall assist persons whose work so requires to gain an understanding of the problems of abuse of psychotropic substances and of its prevention, and shall also promote such understanding among the general public if there is a risk that abuse of such substances will become widespread"[3]. In October 1992, NIDA became part of the National Institutes of Health under the United States Department of Health and Human Services. 1974 is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar). ... 1971 is a common year starting on Friday (click for link to calendar). ... Convention on Psychotropic Substances Opened for signature February 21, 1971 at Vienna Entered into force August 16, 1976 Conditions for entry into force 40 ratifications Parties 175 The Convention on Psychotropic Substances is a United Nations treaty designed to control psychoactive drugs such as amphetamines, barbiturates, and LSD. During the... 1991 is a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The National Institutes of Health is an institution of the United States government which focuses on medical research. ... The United States Department of Health and Human Services, often abbreviated HHS, is a Cabinet department of the United States government with the goal of protecting the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. ...

Controversial research

DAWN is a program to collect statistics on the frequency of emergency room mentions of use of different types of drugs. This information is widely cited by drug policy officials, who have sometimes confused Drug-Related Episodes - emergency room visits induced by drugs - with Drug Mentions. The Wisconsin Department of Justice claimed, "In Wisconsin, marijuana overdose visits in emergency rooms equal to heroin or morphine, twice as common as Valium." Common Sense for Drug Policy called this as a distortion, noting, "The federal DAWN report itself notes that reports of marijuana do not mean people are going to the hospital for a marijuana overdose, it only means that people going to the hospital for a drug overdose mention marijuana as a drug they use"[4]. The emergency room is the American English term for a room, or group of rooms, within a hospital that is designed for the treatment of urgent and medical emergencies. ... One of the periods of glaciation was also termed the Wisconsin glaciation. ... Cannabis is a plant also known as Cannabis sativa, hemp, or marijuana. ... Heroin or diamorphine (INN) (colloquially referred to as brown sugar, junk, babania, horse, golden brown, smack, black tar, H, big H, lady H, dope, skag, juice, jude, diesel, boy, etc. ... Morphine (INN), the principal active agent in opium, is a powerful opioid analgesic drug. ... A drug overdose occurs when a chemical substance (i. ...

The National Survey on Drug Use and Health is an annual study of American drug use patterns. According to NIDA, "The data collection method is in–person interviews conducted with a sample of individuals at their place of residence. . . ACASI provides a highly private and confidential means of responding to questions to increase the level of honest reporting of illicit drug use and other sensitive behavior." 68,000 people were interviewed in 2003, with a weighted response rate for interviewing of 73 percent[5]. Like DAWN, the Survey often results in controversy because of how the data are used by drug policy officials. Rob Kampia of Marijuana Policy Project stated in a September 5, 2002 press release, "The government reaches that exact same conclusion regardless of whether drug use is going up, down, or staying the same. If use is going up they say, `We're in a drug abuse emergency; we need to crack down harder.' If use if going down, they say, `Our strategy is working; we need to crack down harder.' A cynic might think they had made up their minds before even looking at the data"[6]. 2003 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Rob Kampia is the founder of the Marijuana Policy Project. ... The Marijuana Policy Project, or MPP is an organization in the United States working to minimize the harm associated with marijuana[1]. MPP advocates legalizing possession and sale of marijuana, arguing that a regulated marijuana industry would separate purchasers from the street market for cocaine, heroin, and other hard drugs. ... 2002 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

NIDA literature and National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) research frequently contradict each other. For instance, in the 1980s and 1990s, NIMH researchers found that dopamine plays only a marginal role in marijuana's psychoactive effects[7]. Years later, however, NIDA educational materials continued to warn of the danger of dopamine-related marijuana addiction[8]. NIDA appears to be backing off of these dopamine claims, adding disclaimers to its teaching packets that the interaction of THC with the reward system is not fully understood[9]. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is one of 27 components of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the United States federal governments principal biomedical and behavioral research agency. ... // Events and trends The 1980s marked an abrupt shift towards more conservative lifestyles after the momentous cultural revolutions which took place in the 60s and 70s and the definition of the AIDS virus in 1981. ... // Events and trends The 1990s are generally classified as having moved slightly away from the more conservative 1980s, but keeping the same mind-set. ... Dopamine is a chemical naturally produced in the body. ... Tetrahydrocannabinol, also known as THC, Δ9-THC, Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol), Δ1-tetrahydrocannabinol (using an older numbering scheme), or dronabinol, is the main psychoactive substance found in the hemp plant Cannabis sativa. ...

University of Mississippi cannabis supply

Bits of seeds and stems are visible in these visibly low-quality NIDA-provided cannabis cigarettes.

NIDA administers a contract with the University of Mississippi to grow the nation's only licit cannabis crop for medical and research purposes[10]. A Fast Company article pointed out, "Based on the photographic evidence, NIDA's concoction of seeds, stems, and leaves more closely resembles dried cat brier than cannabis"[11]. Medical marijuana researchers typically prefer to use high-potency marijuana, but NIDA's National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse has been reluctant to provide cannabis with high THC levels, citing safety concerns[12]: Image File history File links NIDA cigarettes. ... The University of Mississippi (also known as Ole Miss) is a public, coeducational research university located near Oxford, Mississippi. ... Species Cannabis indica Cannabis ruderalis Cannabis sativa Cannabis is a genus of flowering plant that includes one or more species. ... Fast Company is a 1979 film by Canadian director David Cronenberg. ... Cannabis sativa extract. ...

Most clinical studies have been conducted using cannabis cigarettes with a potency of 2-4% THC. However, it is anticipated that there will be requests for cannabis cigarettes with a higher potency or with other mixes of cannabinoids. For example, NIDA has received a request for cigarettes with an 8 % potency. The subcommittee notes that very little is known about the clinical pharmacology of this higher potency. Thus, while NIDA research has provided a large body of literature related to the clinical pharmacology of -cannabis, research is still needed to establish the safety of new dosage forms and new formulations.

Speaking before the National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse, Rob Kampia of the Marijuana Policy Project criticized NIDA for refusing to provide researcher Donald Abrams with marijuana for his studies, stating that "after nine months of delay, Dr. Leshner rejected Dr. Abrams' request for marijuana, on what we believe are political grounds that the FDA-approved protocol is inadequate"[13]. Rob Kampia is the founder of the Marijuana Policy Project. ... The Marijuana Policy Project, or MPP is an organization in the United States working to minimize the harm associated with marijuana[1]. MPP advocates legalizing possession and sale of marijuana, arguing that a regulated marijuana industry would separate purchasers from the street market for cocaine, heroin, and other hard drugs. ...

References

• About NIDA.
• The Brain & the Actions of Cocaine, Opiates, and Marijuana.
• Breen, Bill: Pipe Dream?: Rick Doblin has a prescription for fixing NIDA's ailing medical-marijuana program: establish an alternative, Issue 79, Feb. 2004.
• Convention on Psychotropic Substances 1971, International Narcotics Control Board.
• Drug War Distortions, Common Sense for Drug Policy.
• Gettman, Jon: Dopamine and the Dependence Liability of Marijuana, July 11, 1997.
• Important Events in NIDA History, NIH 1998 Almanac.
• Kampia, Rob: Testimony at the September 19 Meeting of the National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse, Sep. 19.
• MPP Responds to Release of 2001 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, Marijuana Policy Project, Sep. 5, 2002.
• The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), NIDA, Feb. 7, 2003.
• Provision of Marijuana and Other Compounds For Scientific Research - Recommendations of The National Institute on Drug Abuse National Advisory Council, National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Jan., 1998.
• The Science Behind Drug Abuse, NIDA for Teens.