ABSTRACT
In 1992, when NIAAA made the move to NIH along with NIDA and NIMH, there was some speculation about the influence NIH might have on these agencies. The chapter illustrates the growing biomedicalization that has occurred in the alcohol field prior to and enhanced by NIAAA’s movement to NIH. In Midanik’s article, the NIAAA’s Strategic Plan for 2001-2005 is discussed in terms of its seven goals and is compared NIDA’s strategic plan written approximately at the same time. In sharp contrast to NIAAA’s most recent strategic plan, NIDA’s five-year strategic plan covering the same time period has only one goal: “To significantly reduce drug abuse and addiction and their behavioral, health, and social consequences”. From 1971 until 2000, NIAAA produced ten comprehensive reports to Congress entitled Alcohol & Health designed to describe the “state of the field” and to showcase the progress in the research arena almost exclusively funded by NIAAA.
