Blending clinical practice and research: forging partnerships to enhance drug addiction treatment

How do you improve the practices of addiction treatment professionals by increasing their use of scientifically supported treatment techniques? At the same time, how do you bring ‘‘real-world’’ methods, questions, and problems under scientific analysis? These questions were central to the 1998 report by the Institute of Medicine, Bridging the Gap Between Practice and Research, one of the most influential documents in the field of drug abuse research and treatment in the past decade. The major purpose of this report was to describe the ideological, organizational, and communication ‘‘disconnect’’ between the worlds of substance abuse practice and research. Along with articulating the nature of the problem, the report identified specific recommendations to begin closing this gap. One of the recommendations in the report was to create forums for researchers and practitioners to come together to exchange information, ideas, and perspectives about treating drug addiction. One of the first of such forums was held in Los Angeles, California, on November 1–2, 2000, titled Blending Clinical Practice and Research: Forging Partnerships to Enhance Drug Addiction Treatment. Cosponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the University of California at Los Angeles, the Matrix Institute on Addictions, and the Los Angeles County Alcohol and Drug Programs Office, this event attracted more than 850 participants consisting of drug addiction researchers and drug treatment professionals from the Los Angeles area. Other participants included researchers and community treatment providers from NIDA’s National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network (CTN), a research infrastructure consisting (at the time) of 14 research centers dedicated to testing the effectiveness of drug treatment interventions with diverse populations in real-life community settings. The conference included plenary presentations by Alan I. Leshner, Ph.D., then Director of NIDA, Betty Tai, Ph.D., Director of NIDA’s Center for Clinical Trials Network, members of the Institute of Medicine’s report panel, and representatives from NIDA’s CTN. These presentations helped set the theme of ‘‘blending’’ by highlighting the importance of creating synergy between substance abuse research and practice. The blending theme was incorporated into other aspects of the conference design. Most significantly, each of the 22 workshops conducted was presented by a faculty team consisting of a researcher and a clinician. Following a science-based overview provided by the researcher, the clinician addressed the challenges and strategies to implement these findings into real-life clinical practice. There was a strong sense of commitment on the part of the conference planners and speakers to ensure that the information presented would be appreciated and disseminated to a wider audience than those individuals able to attend the conference. The articles contained in this issue of the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment highlight a number of topics addressed in the conference. Topics covered include advances in pharmacological and behavioral therapies for drug addiction (e.g., buprenorphine, motivational enhancement therapy, and contingency management), treatment approaches in response to recent trends in drug abuse (e.g., ecstasy and methamphetamine), updates on existing therapies (e.g., methadone and LAAM), and interventions tailored to special populations (e.g., dually diagnosed patients, adolescents, women, and men who have sex with men). Collectively, these articles provide an