Washington, DC – The College on Problems of Drug Dependence held its annual Advocacy Event on February 27, 2023. Sixteen CPDD members and representatives, representing ten states, participated in meetings with 35 Congressional member offices.
“This year’s meeting was exciting as the Congressional Staff met with CPDD members in person for the first time in three years,” noted CPDD Public Policy Officer Dr. Sandra Comer. “Although an in-person day limits the number of meetings compared to the past two-years of virtual events, the impact of face-to-face meetings to promote NIDA’s list of priorities is immeasurably valuable.”
During the meetings, CPDD members advocated for increased substance use disorder research funding, NIDA-specific report language being used in the Fiscal 2023 Labor and Health and Human Services Appropriations Bill, and reducing barriers to research.
Under research funding, CPDD advocated for $50.924 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) overall and a proportionate increase for the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Under reducing barriers to research, CPDD supported legislation reducing barriers to research on compounds in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, including cannabis and synthetic fentanyl and its analogues, and the research streamlining provisions of the Administration’s proposal for class-wide scheduling of fentanyl-related substances. The Administration’s proposal would: streamline DEA licensing requirements for all Schedule I compounds, create a process to allow investigators with Schedule II licenses to study Schedule I compounds, and allow a single registration to cover multiple locations under the control of the same institution within the same city or county.
CPDD will host the next CPDD Advocacy Event in February 2024.
For more information or to become involved, contact the CPDD Executive Office by emailing info@cpdd.org.
