Addiction Studies Program for State Legislatures

描述（由申请人提供）：州立法机构和行政分支机构负责其居民的福利和公共资金的良好管理。在试图为其公民做出最佳决策的同时，他们也受到游说者和一些倡导者的影响，这些人在国家资助方面提出了许多相互矛盾的想法和优先事项。整理这些相互矛盾的说法，找到公正的研究和分析来给它们提供背景可能很困难。美国成瘾研究项目的目标是向各州决策者提供有关成瘾科学的最新相关科学发现，以便政策决定和拨款能够以明确、无党派的方式由科学证据提供。这一努力可以被视为将科学发现转化为政策，因此，它代表了国家药物滥用研究所（NIDA）将科学的力量带到药物滥用和成瘾问题上的使命的另一层表达。该项目通过为州政府举办研讨会，将研究成果转化为政策。在研讨会上，由立法者和执行机构负责人组成的州团队从国家顶级研究人员那里了解成瘾科学，通过促进讨论与相反部门进行对话，并共同努力改善其所在州的药物滥用服务。在过去两年中，我们为8个国家的代表队举办了讲习班。在我们当前拨款的最后一年，我们还将为另外四个州提供服务。由于我们的项目导致了公共政策和法律的变化，在这份申请中，我们要求再提供四年的资金来继续这项工作。在当前的金融危机中，该计划的使命更加重要。各州面临着前所未有的预算短缺，不得不削减各州的预算。该项目已证明有能力向州决策者和拨款人提供研究，证明在药物滥用服务方面节省了成本，并获得了投资回报。事实上，我们整个2009年的研讨会，题为“拯救生命，节省金钱：各州如何通过投资于药物滥用的治疗和预防来拯救家庭和节省金钱”，就是为了这个主题。我们建议在未来四年再为16个州举办讲习班。举办能够产生有效的新法律和公共政策变化的讲习班，关键在于我们在每次讲习班之前、期间和之后所花费的时间。我们通过州长、参议院议长和众议院议长来招募州团队，他们组织自己的团队去参加研讨会。我们事先与团队合作，为他们希望在研讨会上完成的目标设定目标，在整个研讨会期间为团队提供帮助，帮助他们处理所学知识，制定改善国内政策的行动计划，并在研讨会结束后提供长达六个月的后续协助，帮助团队实施行动计划。该项目将继续维护和扩展其网站，从报告研讨会团队和促进他们获取当前科学的角度进一步加强研讨会。我们将在现场和讲习班结束后的六个月对项目进行评估，这将使我们能够继续加强项目。我们召集了一批优秀的合作伙伴，为各州制定和实施我们的项目。他们是维克森林大学医学院（WFUSM），国家行动家庭（NFIA），国家州议会会议（NCSL）和治疗研究所（TRI）。每个合作伙伴都有一个独特的角色，所有合作伙伴一起计划和交付讲习班。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): State legislatures and executive branch agencies are charged with the welfare of their residents and with being good stewards of public funds. While attempting to make the best decisions for their citizens, they are engaged by lobbyists and some advocates who argue for many conflicting ideas and priorities about state funding. Sorting through these conflicting claims and finding unbiased research and analysis to give them context can be difficult. The goal of the Addiction Studies Program for the States is to provide current relevant scientific findings about addiction science to state policymakers so that policy decisions and appropriations can be informed by scientific evidence delivered in a clear, non-partisan manner. This effort can be seen as a translation of scientific findings into policy, and as such, it represents another layer of expression to the mission of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to bring the power of science to substance abuse and addiction. The program brings research to policy by conducting workshops for state governments. At the workshops, state teams composed of both legislators and executive agency directors learn about addiction science from the nation's top researchers, engage in dialogues with their opposite branch through facilitated discussions, and work together to improve substance abuse service delivery in their states. In the past two years, we have conducted workshops for eight state teams. Four more states will be served in this last year of our current grant. Because changes in public policy and law have resulted from our program, in this application we ask for an additional four years of funding to continue this work. In the current financial crisis, the program's mission is even more vital. States are facing unprecedented budgetary shortfalls and have to make cuts across state budgets. The program has the demonstrated ability to present state policymakers and appropriators with research demonstrating cost savings and return on investment in substance abuse services. In fact, we have dedicated our entire 2009 workshop, titled "Saving Lives, Saving Dollars: How States Can Save Families and Save Money by Investing in Substance Abuse Treatment and Prevention," to this very subject. We propose to conduct workshops for 16 more states over the next four years. Key to conducting workshops that result in effective new laws and public policy change is the time we spend before, during, and after each workshop. We recruit state teams through governors, senate presidents, and speakers of the house who assemble their teams to send to the workshops. We work with the teams beforehand to set goals for what they hope to accomplish at the workshop, facilitate teams throughout the workshop to help them process what they are learning and develop action plans for improved policy at home, and provide follow-up facilitation after the workshop for up to six months to help teams implement their action plans. The program will continue to maintain and expand its website to further enhance the workshop, both from the perspective of reporting on workshop teams and furthering their access to current science. We will evaluate the program on site and at six months post workshop, which will enable us to continue to strengthen the program. We have put together an outstanding group of partners to create and implement our program for the states. They are Wake Forest University School of Medicine (WFUSM), National Families in Action (NFIA), the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), and the Treatment Research Institute (TRI). Each partner has a distinct role and all partners work together to plan and deliver the workshops.