The Substance Abuse Policy Research Program (SAPRP), first authorized by the Board of Trustees of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) in July 1994, funds investigator-initiated projects that identify and assess policies to reduce the harm caused by substance abuse. Projects analyze the feasibility, effectiveness and likely consequences of these policies. The program helps ensure that the understanding gained through these analyses will be used by decision-makers in the public and private sectors.

SAPRP seeks proposals from experts in diverse disciplines such as medicine, health economics, political science, public health, sociology, criminal justice and law, who seek to use evidence gained in policy-focused research to inform substance abuse policies. The 2006 authorization is the final one under which SAPRP will have a focus on tobacco.

The national program office is located at the Center for Creative Leadership.

Key Results
Through December 2007, RWJF has funded a total of 338 research projects under SAPRP; 72 were active and 266 had closed.

On the program's Web site, each project has a brief description linked to the title in the list of completed projects in that topic area. Topics areas can be access from the home page, via the "View Topic Area" drop-down box. Projects covering more than one topic (e.g., alcohol and tobacco) are listed in both topic areas. This diagram shows the breakdown of SAPRP grants by substance area.

Grants can also be searched by the name of the principal investigator, a list of specific subtopics — such as clean indoor air, harm reduction, prevention/education, social norms, access and availability, welfare reform and college drinking — and by date.

Examples of policy changes informed directly by SAPRP research include:

• Impact of Medicaid policies on drug therapy for addiction.
• Seven states have enacted Per Se Drugged Driving legislation-Delaware. Michigan, Nevada Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin.
• N.Y. City Clean indoor air laws.
• Synar Amendment to restrict youth access to tobacco.
• Effect of youth's exposure to antismoking messages.
• Impact of cigarette excise taxes on smoking rates among pregnant women.
• Cigarette excise taxes and attitudes of African-American smokers/nonsmokers.
• A link between state/local alcohol policies and fatality rates.
• Two studies of safe and drug-free schools.
• Opiate treatment in clinical settings.
• Substance abuse provisions in the welfare reform reauthorization process.
• Drugged driving and state laws.

SAPRP completed grants have produced a mean of 2.5 publications in scientific journals and a total of 835 reported publications to date.

For each RWJF dollar invested in SAPRP projects, investigators report an additional $2.60 of research support from other sources — thus leveraging $146.6 million in additional support.

SAPRP's efforts to grow the field include:

• 525 active external reviewers of proposals.
• 40 percent of investigators reporting that they are new to the field.
• 19 percent of principal investigators reporting ethnic minority ties.

Evaluations
Two evaluations by the Lewin Group in 1997 and 1999 found that SAPRP is an important funding resource for substance abuse policy research, especially for descriptive studies, studies that address the combined effects of multiple substance abuse policies, legal/ethical analyses and policy process studies, which are rarely supported by federal agencies or private foundations. Evaluators also concluded that SAPRP is demonstrating progress in building the field of policy research in four ways:

• Bringing new researchers into the field.
• Increasing the number of experienced investigators doing policy research.
• Expanding funded research projects to areas not previously studied.
• Leveraging existing research findings to stimulate subsequent work.

National Program Self-Assessment
In 2003, the national program office conducted a variety of surveys of principal investigators to look at the following questions; answers follow each one:

1. What is the evidence that SAPRP-funded research is policy relevant and has informed policy-making?
   
   Answer: The substantive topics studied by SAPRP-funded researchers have mirrored the key policy issues on the national agenda. SAPRP-funded research has been utilized by public and private policy-makers at all levels, by the media and by advocacy organizations (e.g., welfare reform, clean indoor air, perinatal substance abuse). Examples include:
   • N.Y. City Clean indoor air laws.
   • The Synar Amendment to restrict youth access to tobacco.
   • The effect of youth's exposure to antismoking messages.
   • The impact of cigarette excise taxes on smoking rates among pregnant women.
   • The link between state/local alcohol policies and fatality rates.
   • Opiate treatment in clinical settings and substance abuse provisions in the welfare reform reauthorization process.
2. What is the evidence that SAPRP has generated scientifically high-quality research?
   
   Answer: As of spring 2004, 139 projects (out of 226) have received 528 total publication citations in more than 200 different journals, and 68 percent of completed grants have at least one citation.
3. Is SAPRP still filling a needed niche given other funders and funding?
   
   Answer: There is little evidence of an overlap between NIH funding and SAPRP priorities. There is also little evidence that SAPRP has "infected" the decision-makers that set the agenda of NIH substance abuse research. Anecdotally, there is no evidence that foundations other than RWJF have invested in substance abuse policy research in any systematic, sustained or financially substantive manner.
4. How has SAPRP contributed to "growing the field"? Have investigators obtained subsequent grants for studies building on SAPRP ones?
   
   Answer: Researchers who are young and/or new to policy are applying to SAPRP and competing successfully for funding.
   • Some 22 percent of funded researchers are 24 to 35 years old.
   • Ten percent have 0–1 year of experience, and 28 percent have two to five years of experience with policy research.
   • SAPRP now has a respectable proportion of minority applicants and grantees: 17 percent of applicants and 20 percent of funded researchers are members of minority groups.
   • Some 64 SAPRP projects have leveraged 133 funded grants. Among projects whose directors responded to the survey, the total SAPRP funding awarded is $14,737,598. The total amount of leveraged funding obtained is $105,241,034 — 7.14 times the original amount.
5. How has SAPRP staff interacted with RWJF staff and staff from other RWJF-funded programs in their work?
   
   Answer: SAPRP staff have collaborated with many other RWJF programs, including: Join Together (a national resource for community substance abuse initiatives); Bridging the Gap: Research Informing Practice for Healthy Youth Behavior (a program to improve the understanding of the role of policy and environmental factors in youth substance abuse); Partners with Tobacco Use Research Centers: Advancing Transdisciplinary Science and Research Studies; and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
   
   SAPRP staff has communicated regularly with a variety of federal, state and local government agencies, as well as with policy organizations. These include:
   • Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT).
   • National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors (NASADAD).
   • National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL).
   • Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP).
   • National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).

Funding
RWJF's Board of Trustees authorized the program in July 1994. Total authorizations through December 2007 total $65.5 million.