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Issued by

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

Purpose

Purpose

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) seeks public input for its Strategic Plan for calendar years (CY) 2027-2031.

Background

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is the lead federal agency supporting research on drug use and its outcomes. NIDA's mission is to advance science on drug use and addiction and to apply that knowledge to improve individual and public health.

NIDA invites feedback on a draft outline for its CY 2027-2031 Strategic Plan, which will be an update to its current strategic plan (available at https://nida.nih.gov/about-nida/2022-2026-strategic-plan).

The strategic plan will focus on advancing scientific priorities across all facets of NIDA's scientific portfolio. It is intended to ensure that NIDA science meets current public health needs and takes advantage of new scientific opportunities to address emerging challenges related to substance use and addiction.

Information Requested

NIDA seeks input from a broad range of stakeholders, including researchers, healthcare providers, people with lived/living experience, and others with an interest in substance use and addiction prevention, treatment, and recovery. We encourage organizations to submit a single response on behalf of their organization.

NIDA welcomes comments on the proposed Priority Areas and Cross-Cutting Themes below, including potential opportunities, challenges, and other areas of focus for consideration.

Cross-Cutting Themes

• Advance Whole-Person Health across the Lifespan.
•  Advance Research to Promote Healthy and Drug-free Living.
• Understand and Address Population Differences in Onset, Treatment, and Outcomes in SUD. 
• Understand Interactions Between Substance Use, HIV, and Other Comorbidities.
• Advance Research on Polysubstance Use.
• Apply Innovative Data Science Methods to Inform Prevention and Treatment of SUD.

Scientific Priorities

• Priority Area 1: Support Basic Research to Understand the Mechanisms Contributing to Drug Use and Addiction and their Impacts on Brain, Behavior, and Health.
  • Goal 1.1: Support fundamental research into our understanding of drug effects and biological mechanisms underlying drug use, addiction, treatment responses, and recovery, and their impact on health and behavior throughout the lifespan.
  • Goal 1.2: Advance research on the causal pathways linking early-life experiences, such as drug exposures, parent-child interactions, physical and sexual abuse, peer behavior, and physical activity, to substance use and addiction. 
  • Goal 1.3: Enhance our knowledge of the real-world landscape of drug use patterns and trends, and trajectories to addiction and recovery.
• Priority Area 2: Improve Interventions for SUDs and Substance Use-Related Problems, from Preventing Drug Use to Supporting Recovery from Addiction.
  • Goal 2.1: Develop and test novel strategies for preventing drug use and SUDs.
  • Goal 2.2: Expand the range of options to treat SUD and promote abstinence.
  • Goal 2.3: Build an evidence base for approaches that support recovery and maintain abstinence.
• Priority Area 3: Develop Novel Interventions to Prevent, Diagnose, and Treat Overdose and other Harms from Substance Use.
  • Goal 3.1: Address gaps in overdose prevention and treatment.
  • Goal 3.2: Improve prevention and treatment of HIV and HCV among people who use drugs.
  • Goal 3.3: Accelerate research on other medical consequences of drug use, including neonatal abstinence syndrome, pain, co-occurring infections and comorbid mental health disorders.
• Priority Area 4: Advance Research to Improve SUD Care in Real-World Settings.  
  • Goal 4.1: Advance research to measure and improve the quality and continuity of care for SUD.
  • Goal 4.2: Study approaches to improve SUD treatment engagement across healthcare and community settings.
  • Goal 4.3: Support research to scale up the application of evidence-based interventions for SUDs and their comorbidities.

Capacity Priorities

• Priority Area 5: Advance our National Capacity to Conduct Cutting-edge Research on Drug Use and Addiction.
  • Goal 5.1: Strengthen the addiction research workforce.
  • Goal 5.2: Leverage advances in data science and artificial intelligence.
  • Goal 5.3: Support cutting-edge research resources, infrastructure, and methods.
• Priority Area 6. Advance Translation of Scientific Knowledge into Products to Diagnose, Monitor, Prevent, and Treat SUD.
  • Goal 6.1: Expand funding for small businesses to develop accessible, sustainable solutions to prevent and treat SUD and support recovery.
  • Goal 6.2: Support training of an addiction science workforce with business and regulatory skills needed to move discoveries into product development and healthcare practice.

Operational Priorities

• Priority Area 7: Foster a Culture of Transparency, Collaboration, and Good Stewardship.
  • Goal 7.1: Foster a culture of good scientific stewardship.
  • Goal 7.2: Leverage partnerships with other agencies, private and non-for-profit organizations, professional societies and patient groups.

Submitting a Response

To ensure consideration, comments must be submitted electronically at https://rfi.grants.nih.gov/?s=69e91110d608a94d3d0a6c72. Responses must be received by 11:59:59 pm (ET) on September 21, 2026.

This request is for planning purposes only and does not constitute a policy, funding opportunity, or commitment by the Government. The Government will not pay for the preparation or submission of responses or for use of the information provided.

Participation is voluntary, and comments may be submitted anonymously. Respondents may include contact information if desired. Please do not include proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information. NIH will conduct a content and thematic analysis of responses and share the results publicly.

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

Please direct all inquiries to the email address below. Please do not use this email to submit your comments. Instead, use https://rfi.grants.nih.gov/?s=69e91110d608a94d3d0a6c72.

Email: [email protected]