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Substance Use Disorder

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NIH LogoThe National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the nation’s medical research agency making important discoveries that improve health and save lives. NIH is made up of 27 Institutes and Centers, each with a specific research agenda, often focusing on particular diseases or body systems.

  • National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is the largest supporter of the world’s research on substance use and addiction and plays a major role in HEAL (Helping to End Addiction Long-termSM). Launched in April 2018, this initiative, funded by Congress, provides scientific solutions to the national opioid overdose crisis, including improved treatment strategies for pain as well as opioid use disorders (OUDs). The agency also sponsors National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week® (NDAFW) to stimulate educational events in communities so teens can learn what science has taught us about drug use and addiction.
  • National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism advances research alcohol's impact on health.
  • National Institute of Mental Illness researches and transforms the understanding and treatment of mental illnesses including drug, alcohol, or tobacco addiction. Multiple national population surveys have found that about half of those who experience a mental illness during their lives will also experience a substance use disorder and vice versa. [Source]
  • The Network of the National Library of Medicine is an education outreach program of the National Library of Medicine, the largest biomedical library in the world. The outreach efforts of the NNLM assure that researchers, health professionals, the public health workforce and the public are aware of and have access to quality health information.
    • Sobriety Graphic Novel book cover imageNNLM Region 7 offers a Graphic Medicine Book Club kit for Sobriety: A Graphic Novel by Daniel Maurer and Spencer Amundson. The kit includes a discussion guide.
    • Substance Use Disorders (SUD) Guide is a collection of trusted, high quality resources on substance abuse. The guide is broken down by audience and includes specific resources for a general audience, libraries, educators, community-based organizations, public health, resources by age and population. The guide also includes recordings of SUD focused webinars that were sponsored by the NNLM.
    • Understanding the Opioid Crisis: Where Do I Begin? (Recorded October 16, 2020) This one hour, Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM) online training is appropriate for anyone providing health information to the general public including public and medical librarians, patient or community educators, and healthcare professionals.​ This recording will help you to understand what addiction and opioids are and where you can find authoritative information to understand this complex epidemic. You also will learn how to discuss many of these resources and explore ideas for their use in community outreach education and programs in your library or organization.

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Terms of use: Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM) staff offer these health discussion resources for educational use. The materials included do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the author, publisher, or the sponsoring agencies of the National Library of Medicine (NLM) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

last updated: 12/13/25 17:12