Title 42 — The Public Health and WelfareRelease 119-73
§285n Purpose of Institute
Title 42 › Chapter CHAPTER 6A— - PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER III— - NATIONAL RESEARCH INSTITUTES › Part Part C— - Specific Provisions Respecting National Research Institutes › Subpart subpart 14— - national institute on alcohol abuse and alcoholism › § 285n
Summary
Runs and supports research, training, and public information about preventing alcohol abuse and treating alcoholism. The work covers causes and effects of alcohol problems—social, behavioral, medical, mental, and economic. The Director can collect and share research info and teaching materials; let public health researchers use federal research facilities; give grants to schools, hospitals, labs, and people; get advice from experts; and coordinate work with other agencies like the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Grants and work give special attention to eight topics, including domestic violence, alcohol use in pregnancy, effects on families and work, links with other drugs, how laws and prices affect drinking, relationships with other health problems, which treatments and prevention methods work and cost less, and alcohol problems in women. The Institute may run its own research centers that treat people for study under full medical and psychiatric care and linked to accredited training institutions. It can admit patients for study who otherwise would not get care, help other groups with research methods, enter needed contracts, and use other steps recommended by its advisory council. The Director must work with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to focus services research and share results with health workers and the public.
Full Legal Text
Title 42, §285n
The Public Health and Welfare — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)The general purpose of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (hereafter in this subpart referred to as the “Institute”) is the conduct and support of biomedical and behavioral research, health services research, research training, and health information dissemination with respect to the prevention of alcohol abuse and the treatment of alcoholism.
(b)The research program established under this subpart shall encompass the social, behavioral, and biomedical etiology, mental and physical health consequences, and social and economic consequences of alcohol abuse and alcoholism. In carrying out the program, the Director of the Institute is authorized to—
(1)collect and disseminate through publications and other appropriate means (including the development of curriculum materials), information as to, and the practical application of, the research and other activities under the program;
(2)make available research facilities of the Public Health Service to appropriate public authorities, and to health officials and scientists engaged in special study;
(3)make grants to universities, hospitals, laboratories, and other public or nonprofit institutions, and to individuals for such research projects as are recommended by the National Advisory Council on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, giving special consideration to projects relating to—
(A)the relationship between alcohol abuse and domestic violence,
(B)the effects of alcohol use during pregnancy,
(C)the impact of alcoholism and alcohol abuse on the family, the workplace, and systems for the delivery of health services,
(D)the relationship between the abuse of alcohol and other drugs,
(E)the effect on the incidence of alcohol abuse and alcoholism of social pressures, legal requirements respecting the use of alcoholic beverages, the cost of such beverages, and the economic status and education of users of such beverages,
(F)the interrelationship between alcohol use and other health problems,
(G)the comparison of the cost and effectiveness of various treatment methods for alcoholism and alcohol abuse and the effectiveness of prevention and intervention programs for alcoholism and alcohol abuse,
(H)alcoholism and alcohol abuse among women;
(4)secure from time to time and for such periods as he deems advisable, the assistance and advice of experts, scholars, and consultants from the United States or abroad;
(5)promote the coordination of research programs conducted by the Institute, and similar programs conducted by the National Institute of Drug Abuse and by other departments, agencies, organizations, and individuals, including all National Institutes of Health research activities which are or may be related to the problems of individuals suffering from alcoholism or alcohol abuse or those of their families or the impact of alcohol abuse on other health problems;
(6)conduct an intramural program of biomedical, behavioral, epidemiological, and social research, including research into the most effective means of treatment and service delivery, and including research involving human subjects, which is—
(A)located in an institution capable of providing all necessary medical care for such human subjects, including complete 24-hour medical diagnostic services by or under the supervision of physicians, acute and intensive medical care, including 24-hour emergency care, psychiatric care, and such other care as is determined to be necessary for individuals suffering from alcoholism and alcohol abuse; and
(B)associated with an accredited medical or research training institution;
(7)for purposes of study, admit and treat at institutions, hospitals, and stations of the Public Health Service, persons not otherwise eligible for such treatment;
(8)provide to health officials, scientists, and appropriate public and other nonprofit institutions and organizations, technical advice and assistance on the application of statistical and other scientific research methods to experiments, studies, and surveys in health and medical fields;
(9)enter into contracts under this subchapter without regard to section 3324(a) and (b) of title 31 and section 6101 of title 41; and
(10)adopt, upon recommendation of the National Advisory Council on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, such additional means as he deems necessary or appropriate to carry out the purposes of this section.
(c)The Director of the Institute shall collaborate with the Administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in focusing the services research activities of the Institute and in disseminating the results of such research to health professionals and the general public.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
Codification section 290bb(b) of this title, which was transferred to subsec. (b) of this section and amended by Pub. L. 102–321, was based on act
July 1, 1944, ch. 373, title V, § 510, formerly Pub. L. 91–616, title V, § 501(b), as added Pub. L. 94–371, § 7,
July 26, 1976, 90 Stat. 1038; amended Pub. L. 95–622, title II, § 268(d), Nov. 9, 1978, 92 Stat. 3437; Pub. L. 96–180, § 14(b), Jan. 2, 1980, 93 Stat. 1305; renumbered § 510(b) of act
July 1, 1944, and amended Apr. 26, 1983, Pub. L. 98–24, § 2(b)(9), 97 Stat. 179; Oct. 19, 1984, Pub. L. 98–509, title II, § 205(a)(1), 98 Stat. 2361. In subsec. (b)(9), “section 3324(a) and (b) of title 31 and section 6101 of title 41” substituted for “section 3648 and 3709 of the Revised Statutes (31 U.S.C. 529; 41 U.S.C. 5)” on authority of Pub. L. 97–258, § 4(b), Sept. 13, 1982, 96 Stat. 1067, which Act enacted Title 31, Money and Finance, and Pub. L. 111–350, § 6(c), Jan. 4, 2011, 124 Stat. 3854, which Act enacted Title 41, Public Contracts.
Amendments
2007—Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 109–482 struck out subsec. (d) which related to authorization of appropriations and allocation for health services research. 1992—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 102–352 substituted “Institute on Alcohol” for “Institute of Alcohol”. Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 102–321, § 122(b)(1), (2)(A), transferred subsec. (b) of section 290bb of this title to subsec. (b) of this section, substituted “(b) Research Program.—The research program established under this subpart shall encompass the social, behavioral, and biomedical etiology, mental and physical health consequences, and social and economic consequences of alcohol abuse and alcoholism. In carrying out the program, the Director of the Institute is authorized” for “(b) In carrying out the program described in subsection (a) of this section, the Secretary, acting through the Institute, is authorized” in introductory provisions, and substituted a semicolon for period at end of par. (3)(H). Subsecs. (c), (d). Pub. L. 102–321, § 122(b)(2)(B), added subsecs. (c) and (d).
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date
of 2007 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 109–482 applicable only with respect to amounts appropriated for fiscal year 2007 or subsequent fiscal years, see section 109 of Pub. L. 109–482, set out as a note under section 281 of this title.
Effective Date
of 1992 Amendment Pub. L. 102–352, § 3, Aug. 26, 1992, 106 Stat. 940, provided that: “The
Amendments
made by— “(1) subsection (a) of section 2 [amending this section and section 285n–2, 285o, 285o–2, 285p, 290aa–1, 290aa–3, 300x–7, 300x–27, 300x–33, 300x–53, and 300y of this title], shall take effect immediately upon the effectuation of the
Amendments
made by titles I and II of the ADAMHA Reorganization Act [Pub. L. 102–321, see
Effective Date
of 1992 Amendment note set out under section 236 of this title]; and “(2) subsections (b) and (c) of section 2 [amending section 290cc–21, 290cc–28, and 290cc–30 of this title and provisions set out as notes under section 290aa and 300x of this title], shall take effect on the date of enactment of this Act [Aug. 26, 1992].”
Effective Date
Section effective Oct. 1, 1992, with provision for programs providing financial assistance, see section 801(c), (d) of Pub. L. 102–321, set out as an
Effective Date
of 1992 Amendment note under section 236 of this title. Required Allocations for Health Services Research Pub. L. 103–43, title XX, § 2016(b),
June 10, 1993, 107 Stat. 218, provided that, with respect to the allocation for health services research required in former subsec. (d)(2) of this section and former section 285o(d)(2) and 285p(f)(2) of this title, the term “15 percent” appearing in each of such provisions was deemed to be 12 percent in the case of allocations for fiscal year 1993. Study on Fetal Alcohol Effect and Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Pub. L. 102–321, title VII, § 705,
July 10, 1992, 106 Stat. 438, directed Secretary of Health and Human Services to enter into a contract with a public or nonprofit private entity to conduct a study on the prevalence of fetal alcohol effect and fetal alcohol syndrome in the general population of the United States and on the adequacy of Federal efforts to reduce the incidence of such conditions (including efforts regarding appropriate training for health care providers in identifying such effect or syndrome), and to ensure that a report outlining this study be submitted to Congress not later than 18 months after
July 10, 1992. Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse Treatment Study Pub. L. 99–570, title IV, § 4022, Oct. 27, 1986, 100 Stat. 3207–124, directed Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through Director of National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, to conduct a study of alternative approaches for alcoholism and alcohol abuse treatment and rehabilitation and of financing alternatives including policies and experiences of third party insurers and State and municipal governments; to recommend policies and programs for research, planning, administration, and reimbursement for treatment and rehabilitation; to request National Academy of Sciences to conduct such study in consultation with Director of National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism under an arrangement entered into with consent of Academy that actual expenses of Academy will be paid by Secretary and that Academy would submit a final report to Secretary no later than 24 months after the arrangement was entered into; and to transmit a final report to Congress no later than 30 days after receiving Academy’s report.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
42 U.S.C. § 285n
Title 42 — The Public Health and Welfare
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73