About the Substance Abuse Policy Research Program (SAPRP)

Substance abuse is one of our nation's most pressing health problems, responsible for half a million preventable deaths annually. The morbidity and mortality from tobacco use, alcohol abuse, and other drugs are staggering, as are the direct and indirect costs to society. These costs include violence, crime, overburdened service systems, reduced productivity, and higher health care costs.

It is the mission of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to focus on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation’s largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful, and timely change. The Foundation developed the Substance Abuse Policy Research Program as part of a comprehensive set of strategies to reduce the personal, social and economic harm caused by the misuse of tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs.

The Substance Abuse Policy Research Program (SAPRP) is a $66 million Foundation initiative that focuses on analyzing and informing public and private policies aimed at reducing the harm caused by alcohol, drugs, tobacco, and multiple-substance use by encouraging experts in public health, law, political science, medicine, sociology, criminal justice, economics, psychology, and other behavioral and policy sciences to address issues related to substance abuse.

The goals of SAPRP are to:
• Support policy relevant, peer-reviewed research that increases understanding of policies for reducing harm caused by substance abuse
• Stimulate, help define, and inform the policy process with sound scientific information
• Grow the field of substance abuse policy research

Projects supported by SAPRP are expected to increase understanding of public and private policy interventions to prevent, treat, and reduce the harm caused by the use of tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs—including the advantages, development, implementation, disadvantages, and potential impact of these policies. Results from SAPRP-funded grants can help policy-makers, government administrators, judicial systems, the media, advocacy groups, community organizations, and private organizations such as health maintenance organizations (HMOs), employers, associations, and trade groups.

To date SAPRP has funded over 360 projects. SAPRP-funded research has been published in major peer-reviewed journals, featured in national and local media, and included in testimonies before Congress, state legislatures, and city councils.