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An Ambitious Research Plan to Help Solve the Opioid Crisis

June 12, 2018
In spring 2018, Congress added an additional $500 million to the NIH budget to invest in science to find solutions to the opioid crisis. The funding that NIDA is receiving will go toward the goal of addressing addiction in new ways and better delivering existing forms of care to populations that need it. Read More.

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Recent Posts

Grant Awards Mark the Launch of Landmark Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study

September 2015
The teen years are the period of highest risk for substance use and for the development of other behavioral disorders, and they are also a period when the brain is changing dramatically. A study of this scope will yield an unprecedented amount of detailed information. Read More.

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Addiction Science Can Help Us Understand the Bee Crisis

September 2015
Recent research now suggests that bees may be preferentially drawn to foods laced with pesticides as a result of reward mechanisms. It is a fascinating lesson in how knowledge gleaned from one area of science—in this case addiction science—can inform our understanding of a global ecological crisis. Read More.

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Chemical structure of Cannabidiol over marijuana leaf background

Researching Marijuana for Therapeutic Purposes: The Potential Promise of Cannabidiol (CBD)

July 2015
Three weeks ago I had the opportunity to testify before the Senate on cannabidiol, or CBD—one of the main active ingredients in the marijuana plant, and a compound around which there is a growing amount of interest from the public as well as the scientific and medical communities. Read More.

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The Importance of Integrating HIV and Addiction Treatment

July 2015
Great progress has been made in reducing the number of new HIV infections and transforming the disease into a manageable and livable condition, but we still have some way to go to achieve an AIDS-free world. Injection drug use is still creating new, local epidemics, and the ways substance use disorders and HIV are intertwined often receive insufficient attention. Read More.

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Seeking Input from the Community on NIDA’s Scientific Reorganization

June 2015
NIDA’s Advisory Council periodically reviews the various programs and Divisions within the Institute to ensure they best reflect NIDA’s capacities and mission. At our May 2015 Council meeting, an Advisory Council workgroup presented a series of recommendations related to the scientific areas currently led by the Division of Clinical Neuroscience and Behavioral Research (DCNBR). Read More.

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Scans of healthy brain versus methamphetaine user showing reduced dopamine levels in the striatum

Addiction Is a Disease of Free Will

June 2015
When I was five or six years old, my grandfather—my mother’s father—died of what I was always told was complications of heart disease. It was not until much later that I learned the real reason for his death. Read More.

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Image of HIV - cover art from Reseach Report

The Major HIV Outbreak in Indiana Was Preventable

May 2015
One of the fastest-spreading recorded U.S. outbreaks of HIV since the inception of the epidemic is now occurring in southeastern Indiana, and it is being driven by injection drug use—specifically, abuse of the opioid painkiller Opana (oxymorphone). Read More.

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Photo of marijuana spilling from a prescription bottle

Taking a Science-informed Approach to Medical Marijuana

April 2015
Opinion on marijuana has changed dramatically in the United States. The public increasingly perceives it as a benign substance, and there is growing interest in its potential medicinal uses. Read More.

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Summit attendees listen to Dr. Nora Volkow's presentation

The 2015 Prescription Drug Abuse Summit

April 2015
This event, which is the brainchild of Kentucky Congressman and House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers, has grown in attendance each year, successfully shining a light on this terrible public health problem in our nation. Read More.

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HHS Announces Actions to Attack the Opioid Abuse Crisis

March 2015
Deaths from opioid painkillers now exceed all other drug overdose deaths, and we are seeing increases in heroin use and increased deaths from heroin as people addicted to painkillers transition to this cheaper, more potent street drug. More must be done to confront the opioid crisis head-on Read More.

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About This Blog

Here I highlight important work being done at NIDA and other news related to the science of drug abuse and addiction.
—Dr. Nora Volkow, Director

Comment & Guest Blog Policies

Dr. Nora Volkow: Video Highlights

NIDA Director, Dr. Nora D. Volkow Videos

National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA): Quality Talks, October 2016
Treating Addiction Within the Health Care System
Watch video (18:51)
APA TV, May 2016
APA TV chats with Dr. Nora Volkow, the Director of NIDA to hear about her lecture on drug abuse and the opioid epidemic.
Watch video (3:20)
Kentucky Educational Television, May 2016
One to One with Bill Goodman: Dr. Nora Volkow
Watch video (27:41)
TEDMED, January 2015
Why do our brains get addicted?
Watch video (16:23)
The World Science Festival, April 2014
The Moth: The Brain's Addiction - Nora Volkow
Watch video (17:01)
Rockburn Presents, November 2012
Dr. Nora Volkow
Watch video (29:32)
Brookhaven National Laboratory WBNL Video, October 2012
Chemistry celebration: FDG: Contribution to Our Understanding of Addiction
Watch video (43:05)
CBS 60 Minutes, April 2012
Hooked: Why Bad Habits Are Hard to Break
Watch video (13:31)
Science Times, June 2011
Dr. Nora Volkow
Watch video (8:19)

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