Legislative Activities

Director's Report: Congressional Affairs

Congressional Affairs FY 2022

September 2022

Hearings, Briefings, Meetings

  • August 29, 2002 – NIDA Senior Advisor within the Division of Therapeutics and Medical Consequences, Dr. Aidan Hampson, met with Senator Pocan’s staff to discuss Kratom.
  • September 7, 2022 – NIDA Director Dr. Nora Volkow met with Senator Cornyn’s staff to discuss wastewater epidemiology.

May 2022

Hearings, Briefings, Meetings

  • March 23, 2022 – NIDA Director Dr. Nora Volkow testified at a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee hearing title, Strengthening Federal Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Programs: Opportunities, Challenges, and Emerging Issues.
  • April 19, 2022 – NIDA Director Dr. Nora Volkow met with Representative David Trone and Representative Hal Rogers to discuss the opioid crisis.
  • May 2, 2022 – NIDA Director Dr. Nora Volkow met with Senate Appropriations staff to discuss the NIH Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) Initiative and the opioid crisis.

February 2022

Hearings, Briefings, Meetings

  • September 27, 2021: Dr. Volkow participating in a Congressional briefing organized by Friends of NIDA and the Partnership to End Addiction titled, New Directions in Substance Use Prevention.
  • November 15, 2021: Dr. Volkow joined Senator Shelley Moore Capito in a tour of the Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute at West Virginia University where she delivered a lecture titled, The Opioid Crisis: Addressing the Challenges Posed by Fentanyl.
  • December 2, 2021: Dr. Volkow testified at a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Health titled, The Overdose Crisis: Interagency Proposal to Combat Illicit Fentanyl-Related Substances.
Congressional Affairs FY 2021

September 2021

Hearings, Briefings, Meetings

  • June 3, 2021 – Dr. Volkow briefed Senate staff on the health and societal impacts of cocaine use.
  • July 20, 2021 – Dr. Volkow participated in a Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control hearing entitled “The Federal Response to the Drug Overdose Epidemic” where she addressed the collision of our nation’s addiction and overdose crises with the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • July 29, 2021 – Dr. Volkow participated in the Senate Democratic Policy and Communications Committee meeting where she discussed the increase in the number of people suffering from substance use disorders and opioid overdose deaths during the pandemic.

May 2021

Hearings, Briefings, Meetings

  • March 3, 2021 - Dr. Volkow participated in a Congressional briefing on methamphetamine hosted by the Friends of NIDA and the American Psychological Association
  • April 29, 2021 - Dr. Compton participated in a roundtable discussion on the Dual Crisis of COVID-19 and the Opioid Epidemic hosted by the Bipartisan Addiction and Mental Health Task Force

February 2021

Hearings, Briefings, Meetings

  • Friday, September 11 – Dr. Volkow briefed staff of the House Energy and Commerce Committee on how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting drug overdose deaths.
  • Wednesday, November 11 – Dr. Volkow participated in a Congressional briefing hosted by the Ad Hoc Group for Medical Research and the Coalition for Health Funding on the intersection of COVID-19 and substance use disorder.
  • Thursday, November 19 – Dr. Volkow participated in a Congressional briefing hosted by the Addiction Policy Forum on stigma and substance use disorder. Congressman David Trone participated in the briefing.
  • Tuesday, December 15 – Dr. Volkow conducted a telebriefing on the FY 2020 Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey results for Congressional staff. She was joined by MTF Principal Investigator Dr. Richard Miech and Dr. Marsha Lopez, Chief of the Epidemiology Research Branch in the NIDA Division of Epidemiology, Services, and Prevention Research.

Older Congressional Affairs reports can be found in the Archived Director's Reports

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