Addiction Studies Program

描述（由申请人提供）： 越来越清楚的是，我们的社会正被迫就强制性的复杂生物医学研究和治疗问题做出艰难的政策决定，而没有科学专业知识来批判性地评估这些问题。因此，虽然我们对成瘾药物影响的了解正在迅速增加，但普遍不知情的公众允许在政治而不是科学基础上做出政策决定。大众媒体代表了大多数美国人学习科学的途径，特别是那些自他们离开学校以来发生的突破。因为大多数记者，像其他普通公众一样，对科学感到不舒服，对毒品问题的科学方面的报道往往无法通过准确性，清晰度和完整性的测试。 此外，记者往往无法区分科学知识和党派言论。因此，即使有适当的科学证据，辩论和公共政策通常也是从政治而不是科学基础出发的。在过去的四年里，我们一直在尝试一种方法，可以帮助记者改善他们对成瘾的报道。在此期间，我们通过有针对性的讲习班对100多名记者进行了成瘾科学方面的培训。这些在职记者和新闻专业学生来自各种电子和印刷媒体。记者们非常乐于接受我们与他们分享的信息，并热情地赞同工作坊的做法。此外，在参加我们的讲习班后，他们还出版了一本书，在报纸和杂志上发表了许多文章，在广播和电视上播放了关于成瘾问题的节目，并编写了一部电影剧本。这项申请建议1）继续为记者举办讲习班，2）通过与新的合作伙伴合作，一方面接触州立法者，另一方面接触司法机构，扩大我们的受众，3）评估我们的努力。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): It has become increasingly clear that our society is being forced to make difficult policy decisions about forced complex biomedical research and treatment issues without the scientific expertise to critically evaluate these issues. So, while our understanding of the effects of addictive drugs has been increasing rapidly, a generally uninformed public allows policy decisions to be made on political rather than scientific bases. The mass media represent the route by which most Americans learn about science, especially those breakthroughs that have occurred since they left school. Because most journalists, like the rest of the lay public, are uncomfortable with science, the coverage of the scientific aspects of drug issues often fail the tests of accuracy, clarity, and completeness. Moreover, journalists often are unable to distinguish between scientific knowledge and partisan rhetoric. As a result, both debate and public policy typically proceed from a political rather than a scientific base, even when appropriate scientific evidence is available. During the past four years we have been experimenting with an approach that may help journalists improve their reporting about addiction. During this period we have trained over 100 journalists in the science of addiction through targeted workshops. These working journalists and journalism students come from an array of electronic and print media. The journalists are very receptive to the information we are sharing with them and have enthusiastically endorsed the workshop approach. Moreover, after attending our workshops they have produced a book, numerous newspaper and magazine articles, radio and television shows about addiction, and a movie script. This application proposes 1) to continue the workshops for journalists, 2) to expand our audience by collaborating with new partners to reach state legislators on the one hand and the judiciary on the other, and 3) to evaluate our efforts.