Drug Abuse Research: Today and Tomorrow

• DOI: 10.1177/002204260903900118
• Published date: 01 January 2009
• Author: Joseph R. Guydish
• Date: 01 January 2009
• Subject Matter: Article

© 2009 BY THE JOURNAL OF DRUG ISSUES

JOURNAL OF DRUG ISSUES 0022-0426/09/01 227-230

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Joseph R. Guydish, Ph.D., MPH, is Professor of Medicine at the University of California San Francisco.

His research work is in the area of access, delivery, and organization of drug abuse treatment services.

Dr. Guydish is aff‌i liated with the UCSF Department of Psychiatry NIDA Treatment Research Center.

DRUG ABUSE RESEARCH: TODAY AND TOMORROW

JOSEPH R. GUYDISH

Many of the papers in this theme issue originated as presentations at a conference

entitled “Ref‌l ections on 40 Years of Drug Abuse Research.” At the conference,

leaders in the drug abuse f‌i eld presented their work, as well as their visions and

concerns for the future of drug abuse research, and many of those presentations

are included as papers in this issue of the Journal of Drug Issues. At the end of the

conference, and after hearing presentations from senior researchers in the f‌i eld,

several mid-career investigators were invited to ref‌l ect on the conference and on

the f‌i eld of drug abuse research at this time in its history. This brief article offers

reactions to the conference, in terms of its meaning for the future of drug abuse

research.

COMMENTARY

This theme issue contains papers by leading and senior drug abuse researchers

who have had a prominent role in shaping our f‌i eld over the past 40 years. These

papers started out as conference presentations at “Ref‌l ections on 40 Years of Drug

Abuse Research,” held in Key Largo, FL, in 2006. At the end of the conference

several mid-career researchers, or as they were called in the program “Next

Generation Researchers” were asked to offer brief reactions to the conference as a

whole, and this paper contains the reactions of one such raconteur.

There may be a meaning in the title of “Next Generation Researchers,” which

applies to many junior and mid-career drug abuse researchers now working in

the f‌i eld. That is that this generation of researchers is the next to lead, and next

to serve in all the ways that those writing in this theme issue have done for so

long. As someone in this generation, one reaction to the conference, and to the

papers included in this issue, is that of gratitude. For many years, researchers in

my generation have studied the papers, listened to the talks, and been inf‌l uenced by

the work of those who have built this f‌i eld. We have benef‌i ted from the mentoring,