The National Institute on Drug Abuse is a U.S. agency whose mission is to "lead the Nation in bringing the power of science to bear on drug abuse and addiction"[1].

In 1974, NIDA was established with a mandate to carry on the work of the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) and National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (now the National Survey on Drug Use and Health )[2]. In October 1992, it became part of the National Institutes of Health under the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

Controversial research

DAWN is a program to collect statistics on the frequency of emergency room mentions of use of different types of drugs. This information is widely cited by drug policy officials, who have sometimes confused Drug-Related Episodes - emergency room visits induced by drugs - with Drug Mentions. The Wisconsin Department of Justice claimed, "In Wisconsin, marijuana overdose visits in emergency rooms equal to heroin or morphine, twice as common as Valium." Common Sense for Drug Policy called this as a distortion, noting, "The federal DAWN report itself notes that reports of marijuana do not mean people are going to the hospital for a marijuana overdose, it only means that people going to the hospital for a drug overdose mention marijuana as a drug they use"[3].

The National Survey on Drug Use and Health is an annual study of American drug use patterns. According to NIDA, "The data collection method is in–person interviews conducted with a sample of individuals at their place of residence. . . ACASI provides a highly private and confidential means of responding to questions to increase the level of honest reporting of illicit drug use and other sensitive behavior." 68,000 people were interviewed in 2003, with a weighted response rate for interviewing of 73 percent[4]. Like DAWN, the Survey often results in controversy because of how the data are used by drug policy officials. Rob Kampia of Marijuana Policy Project stated in a September 5, 2002 press release, "The government reaches that exact same conclusion regardless of whether drug use is going up, down, or staying the same. If use is going up they say, `We're in a drug abuse emergency; we need to crack down harder.' If use if going down, they say, `Our strategy is working; we need to crack down harder.' A cynic might think they had made up their minds before even looking at the data"[5].

NIDA literature and National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) research frequently contradict each other. For instance, in the 1980s and 1990s, NIMH researchers found that dopamine plays only a marginal role in marijuana's psychoactive effects[6]. Years later, however, NIDA educational materials continued to warn of the danger of dopamine-related marijuana addiction[7]. NIDA appears to be backing off of these dopamine claims, adding disclaimers to its teaching packets that the interaction of THC with the reward system is not fully understood[8].

University of Mississippi cannabis supply

NIDA administers a contract with the University of Mississippi to grow the nation's only licit cannabis crop for medical and research purposes[9]. A Fast Company article pointed out, "Based on the photographic evidence, NIDA's concoction of seeds, stems, and leaves more closely resembles dried cat brier than cannabis"[10]. Medical marijuana researchers typically prefer to use high-potency marijuana, but NIDA's National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse has been reluctant to provide cannabis with high THC levels, citing safety concerns[11]:

Most clinical studies have been conducted using cannabis cigarettes with a potency of 2-4% THC. However, it is anticipated that there will be requests for cannabis cigarettes with a higher potency or with other mixes of cannabinoids. For example, NIDA has received a request for cigarettes with an 8 % potency. The subcommittee notes that very little is known about the clinical pharmacology of this higher potency. Thus, while NIDA research has provided a large body of literature related to the clinical pharmacology of -cannabis, research is still needed to establish the safety of new dosage forms and new formulations.

Speaking before the National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse, Rob Kampia of the Marijuana Policy Project criticized NIDA for failing refusing to provide researcher Donald Abrams with marijuana for his studies, stating that "after nine months of delay, Dr. Leshner rejected Dr. Abrams' request for marijuana, on what we believe are political grounds that the FDA-approved protocol is inadequate"[12].

References

• About NIDA.
• The Brain & the Actions of Cocaine, Opiates, and Marijuana.
• Breen, Bill: Pipe Dream?: Rick Doblin has a prescription for fixing NIDA's ailing medical-marijuana program: establish an alternative, Issue 79, Feb. 2004.
• Drug War Distortions, Common Sense for Drug Policy.
• Gettman, Jon: Dopamine and the Dependence Liability of Marijuana, July 11, 1997.
• Important Events in NIDA History, NIH 1998 Almanac.
• Kampia, Rob: Testimony at the September 19 Meeting of the National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse, Sep. 19.
• MPP Responds to Release of 2001 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, Marijuana Policy Project, Sep. 5, 2002.
• The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), NIDA, Feb. 7, 2003.
• Provision of Marijuana and Other Compounds For Scientific Research - Recommendations of The National Institute on Drug Abuse National Advisory Council, National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Jan., 1998.
• The Science Behind Drug Abuse, NIDA for Teens.