Addiction Medicine: Closing the Gap between Science and Practice

 Implement the National Institutes of
Health’s (NIH) recommendation to create
a single institute addressing substance use
and addiction. Create a unified national
institute focused on substance use and
addiction, recognizing the overarching
disease of addiction rather than continuing
the focus on different manifestations of the
disease--tobacco, alcohol, other drug use--
and including the risky use of all addictive
substances. Include in the research portfolio
addiction involving behaviors other than
substance use, and focus on the causes,
correlates, consequences, interventions,
policies and possible cures for all
manifestations of the disease. The portfolio
of the institute also should include health
conditions resulting from risky use and
addiction and other conditions which
increase the risk of developing addiction.