National Drug Agency Director to Speak At Town Meeting At UB

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Alan I. Leshner, Ph.D., director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), will be in Buffalo on Oct. 28 to speak with health professionals and opinion leaders about NIDA research and how it can be used to address local drug-abuse problems, prevention and treatment.

The town meeting, to take place from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Center for Tomorrow on the University of Buffalo North (Amherst) Campus, is one of several being conducted nationwide. The Buffalo event is part of the National Red Ribbon Prevention Campaign.

Leshner will discuss "Drug Abuse and Addictions: Myth vs. Reality" before an invited audience and participate in a panel discussion with representatives of community organizations.

The purpose of the town meeting is to describe NIDA's role in funding and conducting research on drug abuse, establish closer ties between NIDA and community organizations and to help NIDA learn the scientific-information needs of local communities and organizations, with the goal of improving dissemination of drug-abuse information and education materials to the public.

Earlier in the day, Leshner will address area researchers and policy makers at the Research Institute on Addictions, 1021 Main St., Buffalo.

Leshner's appearance is sponsored by the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Office of the Vice President for Public Service and Urban Affairs, Office of the Vice President for Research and the Center for Research on Urban Social Work Practice, all at UB; NIDA; National Institutes of Health; Research Institute on Addictions; Erie County Council for the Prevention of Alcohol and Substance Abuse, and the Erie County Committee of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Professionals.

NIDA, one of the scientific institutes of the National Institutes of Health, supports 85 percent of the world's research on the health aspects of drug abuse and addiction. It also carries out a large variety of programs to ensure the rapid dissemination and use, in both practice and policy settings, of the results of research it supports.