Approximately 10 percent of adults over age 18 in the U.S., have either a substance use disorder and/or smoke cigarettes. Collectively, cannabis, tobacco, alcohol, opioids and other hard drugs form the core of US substance use and addiction problems.

Urban, suburban, and rural Illinois have specific substance use epidemics that require innovative and collaborative approaches. The west side of Chicago has one of the highest rates of mortality in the country due primarily to opioids; young people who inject heroin are more likely to be from suburban areas; and rural Illinois has rising rates of polysubstance use that includes methamphetamines. There are constantly evolving and emerging compounds (e.g., synthetic opioids such as fentanyl; novel nicotine products; new drugs of abuse like xylazine) and delivery modalities (vaping) posing challenges for intervention. Our team is poised to address these challenges using innovative research and models.

The UIC Institute for Research on Addictions will help to address key knowledge gaps by working collaboratively across three research domains:

1. Novel Interventions to Address Addiction and Related Harms
2. Addiction Data Science: Modeling and Health Equity
3. Patterns and Predictors of Addiction Across the Lifespan