As the holiday season approaches, we’re reflecting on our efforts during the past year to make the latest discoveries in addiction research more accessible to a broad audience. We hope that you’ve benefitted from the material we’ve posted this year, which included 13 editions each of ASHES, The DRAM, STASH, and The WAGER and over 20 editorials from noted researchers, treatment providers, industry and policy experts, and educators. We’d love to learn more about how you’ve used The BASIS in your own life! Please share your experiences by emailing us at basis@divisiononaddictions.org.
An exciting development this year was the addition of several Special Series– month-long efforts to focus attention on how addiction intersects with homelessness, interpersonal relationships, drugged driving, and technology. We also used our Special Series to explore how addiction impacts certain population groups, like college students, Native Americans, and combat veterans. We’re busy planning next year’s Special Series. If you have suggestions for topics we should cover, please email us (basis@divisiononaddictions.org).
In an effort to get a sense of how you and other readers are engaging with The BASIS, we’ve taken a look at our traffic statistics. We’ve had some busy days! In particular, we had a lot of visits on days when we described research on how social media depictions relate to adolescents’ drinking behavior, how gambling problems are related to harmful health behaviors, and how environmental features in casinos affect gambling behavior. These examples illustrate the diversity of the scientific findings we describe every week.
In the coming weeks, you’ll have the opportunity to help improve The BASIS –and potentially win a collection of Division on Addiction faculty books—by completing a short reader survey. You’ll receive an invitation from Dr. Howard Shaffer, Director of the Division on Addiction and Editor-in-Chief of The BASIS. Look for that invitation in your mailbox in early January.
We at the Division on Addiction are entirely self-funded. That means that we rely on grants, contracts, and gifts to produce all of our work, including The BASIS. Please help us continue our work by making your year-end, tax deductible donation to The BASIS today. Together we can continue to advance the public’s understanding of addiction and, ultimately, improve the lives of people touched by addiction. Any amount makes a difference. Please support us now with a donation.
Thank you and best wishes for a happy holiday season.
Sincerely,
The BASIS Team
Howard J. Shaffer, Ph.D., C.A.S., Editor-in-Chief
Heather M. Gray, Ph.D., Senior Editor, BASIS
Debi A. LaPlante, Ph.D., Editor, STASH and WAGER
Sarah E. Nelson, Ph.D., Editor, ASHES and DRAM
Matthew Tom, Ph.D.
Tasha Chandler
Katerina Belkin
John Kleschinsky
Jed Jeng
Emily Shoov
