The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has selected the Integrated Substance Abuse Programs at UCLA's Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior to organize a global network of resource centers that will address the growing need for accessible and quality drug treatment and rehabilitation services.

The International Network of Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Resource Centers will improve the capacity of diversified drug treatment and rehabilitation services, including related HIV/AIDS prevention and care, by offering members training and other support from leading experts, and by facilitating idea sharing among centers.

Some 200 million people - or 5 percent of the world's population ages 15 to 64 - use illicit drugs, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime's 2005 World Drug Report. Opiates remain the most serious problem drug worldwide in terms of the impact of drugs on health, followed by amphetamine type stimulants and cocaine, as measured by demand for treatment services.

"The social and economic toll of drug abuse worldwide is staggering," said project principal investigator Richard Rawson, adjunct associate professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and associate director of the Integrated Substance Abuse Programs. "We feel honored to be selected to manage this important project. Improving the availability and effectiveness of drug rehabilitation services through the UNODC network will make a real difference in many, many lives."

Network participants from 20 treatment centers from around the world met for the first time in December in Vienna, Austria, to establish project priorities. Represented regions include Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Egypt, Germany, Indonesia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Russia, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States (2).


At the meeting, network representatives established four priorities: 1) increasing access to community-based treatment, 2) bringing drug treatment and rehabilitation to prison settings, 3) addressing drug-related HIV/AIDS prevention and care, and 4) creating sustainable livelihoods, rehabilitation and reintegration for recovering addicts.

Over the next 18 months the UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs will lead development of a series of training programs applicable to all sites, as well specialized programs designed to address site-specific challenges. In addition, exchange visits between network members are planned.

Network participants are scheduled to meet as a group again in summer 2006 in Arizona.

The UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs conducts research, delivers clinical training and research training, and provides treatment for substance abuse disorders in coordination with the UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences and in affiliation with other community-based treatment providers. More information is available at http://www.uclaisap.org/.

The Semel Institute of Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA is an interdisciplinary research and education institute devoted to the understanding of complex human behavior, including the genetic, biological, behavioral and sociocultural underpinnings of normal behavior, and the causes and consequences of neuropsychiatric disorders. For information, visit http://www.npi.ucla.edu/.

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