The Director of the Institute may designate National Drug Abuse Research Centers for the purpose of interdisciplinary research relating to drug abuse and other biomedical, behavioral, and social issues related to drug abuse. No entity may be designated as a Center unless an application therefore has been submitted to, and approved by, the Secretary. Such an application shall be submitted in such manner and contain such information as the Secretary may reasonably require. The Secretary may not approve such an application unless—

the application contains or is supported by reasonable assurances that—

(A) the applicant has the experience, or capability, to conduct, through biomedical, behavioral, social, and related disciplines, long-term research on drug abuse and to provide coordination of such research among such disciplines;

(B) the applicant has available to it sufficient facilities (including laboratory, reference, and data analysis facilities) to carry out the research plan contained in the application;

(C) the applicant has facilities and personnel to provide training in the prevention and treatment of drug abuse;

(D) the applicant has the capacity to train predoctoral and postdoctoral students for careers in research on drug abuse;

(E) the applicant has the capacity to conduct courses on drug abuse problems and research on drug abuse for undergraduate and graduate students, and medical and osteopathic, nursing, social work, and other specialized graduate students; and

(F) the applicant has the capacity to conduct programs of continuing education in such medical, legal, and social service fields as the Secretary may require.[1]

(2) the application contains a detailed five-year plan for research relating to drug abuse.

The Director of the Institute shall, under such conditions as the Secretary may reasonably require, make annual grants to Centers which have been designated under this section. No funds provided under a grant under this subsection may be used for the purchase of any land or the purchase, construction, preservation, or repair of any building. For the purposes of the preceding sentence, the term “construction” has the meaning given that term by section 292a(1) [2] of this title.

Amounts made available under a grant or cooperative agreement under paragraph (1) for drug abuse and addiction may be used for research and clinical trials relating to—

(1) Grants or cooperative agreements The Director of the Institute may make grants or enter into cooperative agreements to expand the current and ongoing interdisciplinary research and clinical trials with treatment centers of the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network relating to drug abuse and addiction, including related biomedical, behavioral, and social issues.

Amounts made available under a grant or cooperative agreement under paragraph (1) for drug abuse and addiction may be used for research and clinical trials relating to—

(A) the effects of drug abuse on the human body, including the brain;

(B) the addictive nature of drugs and how such effects differ with respect to different individuals;

(C) the connection between drug abuse and mental health;

(D) the identification and evaluation of the most effective methods of prevention of drug abuse and addiction;

(E) the identification and development of the most effective methods of treatment of drug addiction, including pharmacological treatments;

(F) risk factors for drug abuse;

(G) effects of drug abuse and addiction on pregnant women and their fetuses; and

(H) cultural, social, behavioral, neurological, and psychological reasons that individuals abuse drugs, or refrain from abusing drugs.

(3) Research results The Director shall promptly disseminate research results under this subsection to Federal, State, and local entities involved in combating drug abuse and addiction.

(July 1, 1944, ch. 373, title IV, § 464N, as added Pub. L. 102–321, title I, § 123(b), July 10, 1992, 106 Stat. 361; amended Pub. L. 102–352, § 2(a)(4), Aug. 26, 1992, 106 Stat. 938; Pub. L. 106–310, div. B, title XXXVI, § 3631, Oct. 17, 2000, 114 Stat. 1235; Pub. L. 107–273, div. B, title II, § 2203, Nov. 2, 2002, 116 Stat. 1794; Pub. L. 109–482, title I, § 103(b)(34), Jan. 15, 2007, 120 Stat. 3688.)