For Release September 5, 2003

Meeting Will Help Integrate Research, Practice

As in other fields of medicine, a gap exists in the drug abuse treatment field between clinical practice and basic scientific investigation. To help narrow this gap, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, is hosting a 2-day regional meeting, "Blending Clinical Practice and Research: Forging Partnerships in the Rocky Mountain States to Enhance Drug Addiction Treatment."

"Blending is NIDA's short name for some of its most important work," says NIDA Director, Dr. Nora D. Volkow. "By 'blending', we mean the integrated research-practice partnership so necessary to achieve our full potential and relieve the suffering and waste of human life caused by drug abuse and addiction."

The meeting will take place September 8Ð9 at the Westin Westminster in Westminster, Colorado. Teams made up of more than 700 nationally recognized clinicians and researchers will conduct a variety of knowledge-building workshops that address such subjects as: medication strategies for addiction, rural treatment issues, addressing HIV/hepatitis C, integrating treatment of accompanying mental disorders, and ethics in research and practice.

Dr. Volkow will deliver the meeting's keynote address titled "Progress in Translating Drug Abuse Research Into Clinical Practice," on Monday, September 8, at 9:15 a.m.

"At the Blending Conference, researchers, clinicians, social workers, criminal justice officers, and community leaders bring their observations, insights, viewpoints, and priorities collectively to bear in advancing our understanding of drug abuse and addiction and our ability to treat and prevent it," says Dr. Volkow. "Experience has shown that these collegial discussions are a powerful force for progress."

As this year's Blending Conference kicks off, Science and Practice Perspectives, Volume 2, Issue 1 is being mailed to researchers and service providers nationwide. This issue includes Research Reviews about integrating substance abuse treatment with ongoing criminal justice supervision and providing concurrent treatment services to adolescents with substance use and psychiatric disorders. Topics discussed in the Clinical Perspectives section include targeting nicotine addiction in a substance abuse program and the role of 12-step treatment in recovery. The issue also features a researcher-provider exchange on low-cost incentives.

No-cost subscriptions of Science and Practice Perspectives for individuals and organizations can be ordered online from NIDA's Web site, http://www.drugabuse.gov/.

The University of Colorado Health Sciences Center is the home of the Rocky Mountain Clinical Trials Network (CTN) Node and is a cosponsor of the Blending Conference. NIDA's National Drug Abuse CTN is a research infrastructure that tests the effectiveness and usefulness of new and improved interventions in community-based treatment settings with diverse populations. Consisting of 17 research "nodes," the CTN is an important component of NIDA's overall goal to establish and maintain partnerships with drug abuse researchers and community treatment providers.

The conference is organized by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the Rocky Mountain Clinical Trials Network (CTN) Node, together with the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Colorado Department of Health Services, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division, and the Signal Behavioral Health Network, Inc.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse is a component of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIDA supports more than 85 percent of the world's research on the health aspects of drug abuse and addiction. The Institute carries out a large variety of programs to ensure the rapid dissemination of research information and its implementation in policy and practice. Fact sheets on the health effects of drugs of abuse and further information on NIDA research can be found on the NIDA web site at http://www.drugabuse.gov.