NIH 1998 Almanac/The Organization/NIDA/
National Institute on Drug Abuse: Important Events in NIDA History
1935--A research facility is established in Lexington, Ky., as part of a USPHS
hospital. It became the Addiction Research Center in 1948.
1972--Drug Abuse Warning Network and National Household Survey on Drug Abuse were
initiated under the Special Action Office for Drug Abuse Prevention.
1974--NIDA was established as part of ADAMHA, as the lead Federal agency for
conducting basic, clinical, and epidemiological research to improve the understanding,
treatment, and prevention of drug abuse and addiction and the health consequences of these
behaviors. NIDA was mandated to carry on the work of the Drug Abuse Warning Network, and
National Household Survey on Drug Abuse. The Addiction Research Center in Lexington, Ky.,
became NIDA’s intramural research program.
National Drug and Alcohol Treatment Unit Survey begins, to identify the location,
scope and characteristics of public and private drug prevention and treatment programs.
1975--The Monitoring the Future Survey, also known as the High School Senior
Survey, was initiated to measure prevalence and trends of nonmedical drug use and related
attitudes of high school seniors and young adults.
NIDA began its "Research Monograph Series," which is its primary vehicle
for disseminating the newest scientific information in the drug abuse field. Each
monograph contains scientific papers that discuss a variety of subjects including drug
abuse treatment and prevention research.
1976--NIDA begins the Community Epidem-iology Work Group, made up of state and
local representatives meeting semiannually with NIDA staff to assess recent drug abuse
trends and to identify populations at risk.
1979--The clinical research program moves from Lexington, Ky., to the campus of the
Francis Scott Key Medical Center (later Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center) in
Baltimore, Md. The basic science program follows in 1985.
NIDA sponsors the Treatment Outcome Prospective Study (TOPS), which continued
through 1987 to evaluate the overall effectiveness of treatment and to identify certain
factors as important determinants of drug abuse treatment success, such as length of time
in treatment.
1984--NIDA funds an evaluation of the Midwestern Prevention Project, a
comprehensive program involving schools, parents, media, community, and policy makers in
drug prevention and education.
1985--NIDA publishes the first issue of its bimonthly newsletter, NIDA Notes.
1986--NIDA’s Drug Abuse Information and Treatment Referral Hotline is
initiated, 1-800-662-HELP.
NIDA becomes the lead agency to carry out the Drug Free Federal Workplace Program, as
mandated by presidential order.
1987--NIDA initiates the National AIDS Demonstration Research projects to study and
change the high-risk behaviors of injection drug users not enrolled in drug treatment and
their sex partners.
1990--NIDA established the Medications Development Division, focusing on developing
new medications for enhancing options and effectiveness of drug abuse treatment.
1991--The Monitoring the Future Survey, also called the High School Senior Survey,
is expanded to include 8th and 10th graders.
NIDA begins data collection for the Drug Abuse Treatment Outcome Study (the successor
to TOPS) to assess the effectiveness of treatment in reducing drug abuse and to identify
predictors of drug abuse treatment success.
NIDA holds its first research technology transfer conference in Washington, D.C.:
"National Conference on Drug Abuse Research and Practice: An Alliance for the 21st
Century."
1992--NIDA is transferred to NIH from ADAMHA, which is reorganized.
1993--NIDA holds its second research technology transfer conference in Washington,
D.C., on Drug Abuse Research and Practice: An Alliance for the 21st Century.
The institute obtained FDA approval for LAAM, the first medication approved in a decade
for the treatment of opioid addiction.
1995--NIDA designated the development of a cocaine treatment medication as one of
its top priorities.
The institute held the first "National Conference on Marijuana Use: Prevention,
Treatment, and Research" in Arlington, Va.
1996--NIDA dedicated the Regional Brain Imaging Center located at the institute's intramural research center in Baltimore.
1997--The institute sponsored "Heroin Use and Addiction: A National Conference on Prevention, Treatment and Research," in Washington, D.C. NIDA released Preventing Drug Use Among Children and Adolescents: A Research-based Guide, which described the most successful concepts for treating people with drug abuse and addiction problems.
