Appendices (Continued)

Appendix 2: Preparing for Progress: Crafting the Strategic Plan

Given the importance of both basic and applied research in fighting drug abuse and addiction, the enormous range of possible subjects for study, and the hundreds of talented investigators who apply for funding, NIDA must make choices, often difficult, about where and how it spends its money, approximately $608 million in fiscal year 1999.

To help NIDA develop its Strategic Plan, the Institute called upon a large group of knowledgeable and interested parties to contribute their expertise. The process started with recommendations from a National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse subcommittee dedicated to overseeing the strategic planning process. After obtaining input from its many constituent groups and the Institute staff, NIDA developed a detailed outline of its Strategic Plan for review by the Council subcommittee, an extensive panel of NIDA-funded extramural researchers, and the NIDA staff. Using that review, the Institute developed a draft Strategic Plan that was reviewed by the entire NIDA advisory council and made available for public comment through distribution to NIDA's 67 constituent organizations and via posting on the Institute's Web page. NIDA then developed the final version of the Strategic Plan presented here.

An important fact to keep in mind is that science, in dealing with the unknown, is inherently unpredictable. History has repeatedly shown the benefits of allowing a significant portion of our research activity to be governed by the imagination and productivity of individual scientists, not by a regimented plan for alleviating diseases we do not yet fully understand. Moreover, unforeseen crises and opportunities may require NIDA and individual scientists to abandon their plans or change the direction and focus of their research. Consequently, a significant portion of NIDA's budget supports cutting-edge research proposals, regardless of their specific applicability to prevention and treatment of drug abuse and drug addiction. However, the Institute funds these projects at the frontiers of biomedical science in the expectation that their results will contribute to advances that will directly benefit the fight against drug abuse and addiction and its many consequences, both personal and societal, in addition to diseases in the purview of other NIH institutes and to our knowledge generally.

Answers to questions that affect resource allocation at NIDA are influenced by several factors:

• An obligation to respond to urgent public health needs, as judged by the incidence, severity, and cost of specific disorders associated with drug abuse and addiction -- Changes in the nature or burden of a particular aspect of drug abuse are important considerations, as illustrated by the increased resources recently devoted to the emergence of methamphetamine as a growing drug of abuse. Another example would be NIDA's increasing allocation of resources to combat the rise of AIDS, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C among those who inject drugs.
• A commitment to support work of the highest scientific caliber -- A basic tenet of NIDA's stewardship is the pledge to maximize the return on the public's investment in research. To do this, the Institute demands that all requests for support pass stringent review for scientific quality.
• A need to maintain a diverse portfolio that supports work in many scientific disciplines and on a wide range of problems associated with drug abuse and addiction -- Because no one can know when major discoveries will occur and what opportunities they will create, it is important to support ongoing research along a broad frontier.
• An obligation to ensure a strong scientific infrastructure, with a high-quality workforce of researchers and health care professionals -- Productive science cannot be done without well-trained investigators. Moreover, the new therapies that result from research might languish unused for want of well-trained health care professionals to take those therapies out to the public at need. For these reasons, NIDA provides significant support for research training programs and individual fellowships to both research and clinical communities.