42 U.S.C. § 1862u: NSF support of research on opioid addiction

The Director of the National Science Foundation, in consultation with the Director of the National Institutes of Health, shall support merit-reviewed and competitively awarded research on the science of opioid addiction. research gaps currently exist in the prevention and treatment of opioid addiction; the National Science Foundation’s research on opioid addiction has increased understanding of the neuroscience of addiction, substance abuse intervention, the role of illicit supply networks, the secondary effects on families, the use of technology to address the opioid epidemic, and options for alternative, non-addictive therapeutics for pain; and the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health have recognized that fundamental questions in basic, clinical, and translational research would benefit greatly from multidisciplinary approaches and collaboration.”