At left, NIDA International Program Director Steven W. Gust, Ph.D., welcomes participants to the 2016 NIDA International Forum. At right, plenary session speaker Susan Weiss, Ph.D., director of the NIDA Division of Extramural Research, talks with CPDD International Committee Chair Clyde McCoy, M.D., University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.More than 200 participants from around the world attended the 21st Annual NIDA International Forum, held June 10–13, 2016, in Palm Springs, California. International Program Director Steven W. Gust, Ph.D., chaired the meeting. A joint NIDA International Forum/College on Problems of Drug Dependence (CPDD) poster session featured presentations on international research by 141 scientists from the United States and 45 other countries. CPDD International Committee Chair Clyde McCoy, M.D., University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, encouraged Forum participants to take advantage of the meeting’s education and networking activities.
NIDA Division of Extramural Research Director Susan Weiss, Ph.D., reviewed scientific findings presented during the March 2016 National Institutes of Health (NIH) meeting, Marijuana and Cannabinoids: A Neuroscience Research Summit. Dr. Weiss also highlighted international marijuana studies conducted or under way in Canada, Germany, New Zealand, and the Netherlands. She noted that international research allows scientists to take advantage of natural experiments in marijuana control, prevention, and treatment. Elizabeth Sáenz, M.D., M.P.H.D.C., M.Sc., United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), reported on the international drug control system, the recent United Nations General Assembly Special Session on the World Drug Problem, and UNODC programs that help nations recognize drug use disorders as health problems; address circumstances, conditions, and vulnerabilities that contribute to substance use; and stop discrimination and stigma.
Three panel discussions focused on “new” psychoactive substances, international efforts to educate physicians to treat addiction, and globalization and health consequences of waterpipe tobacco. The International Networking Session featured NIDA social media, National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week, and collaborative research and training programs established by former NIDA Hubert H. Humphrey Drug Abuse Research Fellows in the Czech Republic and the Republic of Georgia. The International Society of Addiction Journal Editors (ISAJE) supported a workshop on preparing research for publication.
More details about the 2016 NIDA International Forum are available online: