This is the letter I sent to NIDA on tobacco industry funding (please send one, too)

October 6, 2011

Dr. Nora D. Volkow, Director
National Institute on Drug Abuse
National Institutes of Health
6001 Executive Boulevard, Room 5213
Bethesda, MD 20892-9561

Dear Dr. Volkow,

I was very pleased to read the recent statement by NIDA’s National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse, “Points to Consider Regarding Tobacco Industry Funding of NIDA Applicants.”  It is a sensible and scientifically sound response to the overwhelming evidence that the tobacco industry has used funding of science in its efforts to maintain its sales and profits at the cost of the public’s health.

As the Council noted, this distortion of science was a key element of Federal Judge Gladys Kessler’s ruling, upheld on appeal, that the tobacco companies created an illegal racketeering enterprise and that this behavior was continuing and likely to continue in the future.

I hope that you will act on this recommendation by seeing that the considerations suggested by the Council are formally integrated into NIDA’s funding decision making process.

Please share this letter with the Council and others at NIDA who were instrumental in developing this policy.

Thank you for NIDA’s leadership on this important issue.

Best wishes,

Stanton A. Glantz, PhD
Professor and Director