Substance Abuse and Dependence Research Center

The Substance Abuse and Dependence Research Center was established in 2003 with the collaboration of a group of university lecturers and researchers involved in the field of addiction under the title of “Training and Research Center of Substance use and dependency “(DARIOUS Institute), with the aim of helping to solve drug problems in a scientific approach.

As an academic research center, it focused on the organization of education and research projects related to substance use and dependence. In 2008, this center received the agreement in-principle for establishing the research center from the Ministry of Health and Medical Education.

Some of our responsibilities in the Research Center are producing guidelines of the research council, approving research policy and the strategic plan of the center, providing individual and family consulting services, as well as providing medical, psychological and social working services.

Our mission

· Expanding the frontiers of knowledge, and increasing the center’s contribution to the production of science on addiction at the national and international levels

· Training experts in the fields of prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of addiction

· Developing innovative models of prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of addiction

· Developing communication and cooperation at the national, regional, international levels in the field of addiction

Main areas of research

· Reducing substance use demands through prevention programs, targeting predisposing factors, developing new methods of psychological therapy, social interventions, medical treatments, complementary or alternative therapies.

· Monitoring and evaluation of harm reduction programs,

· Evaluating of addiction’s non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and community-based organizations

· Epidemiological research including picture of addiction in Iran, prevalence and patterns of substances use in general population and high risk groups, situation of iatrogenic addiction,

· Determining the causes of addiction and related risk and protective factors

· Investigating drug-related mortalities

· Biological research such as examining the effect of different kind of interventions on neural structures and neuronal functions and examining the genetic factors in addiction.

· Brain based intervention and new technologies such as neurofeedback, tDCS and rTMS.