The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) sponsored a National Conference on Drug Abuse Prevention Research.

The two-day conference took place in Washington, September 19–20, 1996.

Key Results

• The conference was attended by 766 people from more than 500 organizations.
• It featured:
  • Keynote addresses by by Donna E. Shalala, Secretary of Health and Human Services, and General Barry R. McCaffrey, Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
  • Presentations by senior scientists highlighting the key components of effective prevention strategies.
  • Work group discussions featuring community leaders and practitioners.
• NIDA produced a proceedings of the conference. (Available online.)

Key Recommendations

Conference participants made recommendations concerning the essential characteristics of future community-based drug abuse prevention initiatives. These included:

• Research and implementation methods need to be refined.
• Communications between concerned agencies, organizations, communities, and individuals should be improved.
• Long-term funding is necessary to sustain effective programs.
• Programs must address the particular needs of minority populations in the community, and create a multicultural approach to drug abuse prevention.
• More linkages among concerned agencies would foster improved collaborations.
• Parents should be involved at the policy-making level.

Funding

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) provided a grant of $30,276 from August 1996 to January 1997 to support attendance by 28 educators, civic leaders, and law enforcement personnel who were outside NIDA's regular list of invitees.