Title: From the Chair

Author:

Section/SPIG: Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs

Issue Date:

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Dear ATOD Members:

The Annual Meeting that was held in Washington, D.C., in November was a great success for ATOD. We had a comprehensive, informative and even motivational program. Again thanks to our Program Chair and Committee, we had the largest number of scientific sessions of any section. The Section received close to 600 abstracts, and the program had 45 oral sessions and 29 poster sessions. These sessions were well-attended, and the feedback received concerning the program was excellent. Not only did we have a large offering of scientific sessions, we also had well attended social and business functions. We had truly inspirational presentations from our ATOD awardees. The Section membership should be pleased to learn that many more individuals have volunteered to work on behalf of the ATOD Section.

A crowning achievement of the meeting was the new APHA policy to host future meetings in smoke-free cities. This policy resolution was spearheaded by the ATOD Section leadership. During the past few years, ATOD has gained considerable skill and knowledge in maneuvering through the APHA governance system. In addition, our current Past-Chair, Diana Conti, was elected to the Intersectional Council Steering Committee. With our Governing Council gaining increased skill and Diana now sitting on an important APHA committee, our ATOD interests and issues will, hopefully, receive more attention within the Association.

This is very important especially since the political climate for research on alcohol, tobacco and other drugs continues to face difficult challenges. Over the last few years, we have had to contend with political actions that have attacked and tried to twist science to meet ideological ends. This attack has come in the form of increased secrecy and suppression of information as well as attempts to de-fund research projects that focused on topics that were not favored by certain special interest groups. During this last year, ATOD leadership alerted APHA to some problems contributing to APHA Executive Director Georges Benjamin writing a letter to the administration in support of the integrity of the NIH research process.

But, we must remain alert to any other challenges. For example, a recent report (New York Times, Jan. 6, 2005) finds the Bush administration in violation of federal law by directly producing and distributing editorials, newspaper stories and entire television news segments about the effects of drug use among adolescents. The government led the media to believe these were true news stories and failed to identify these as being prepared by government officials. The Government Accountability Office, the investigative body of Congress, found this action in violation of the prohibition on using taxpayer money for propaganda.

As public health professionals, we must continue to take an active role in promoting the policies and actions that will reduce drug use. We also must, when necessary, be prepared to advocate for and urge APHA to act on behalf of our causes to prevent or reverse actions taken by our elected leaders that would undermine the integrity of the scientific process and ATOD research.

Frances A. Stillman
ATOD Chair