By Pedro Ruiz, M.D.

For several years, Dr. Rodrigo Muņoz has strongly expressed to me and others within and outside of APA his major concern about the devastating effects of drug addiction across the Americas. It was not, therefore, surprising to me that as soon as Dr. Muņoz was chosen president-elect of APA, he approached me, then the chair of APA's Council on International Affairs, and Dr. Sheldon Miller, chair of APA's Council on Addiction Psychiatry, to launch an APA initiative to reduce the drug addiction problem in the Americas. He wanted the initiative to utilize an educational approach with major emphasis on prevention, demand reduction, and harm reduction. Needless to say, I welcomed such a directive from Dr. Muņoz since he and I view the drug addiction problem in the Americas in a similar manner.

It was very clear to me and Dr. Miller that such an APA initiative required governmental, professional, and community collaboration from all of the countries in the Americas. Thus, we conducted two key meetings with representatives from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission of the Organization of American States, Substance Abuse Office of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), and APA.

As a result of these high-level strategic planning efforts, APA was invited to participate, in an observer capacity, in the Second Meeting of the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission Expert Group on Demand Reduction, which was held in Mexico City March 3 to 6. The Mexican government hosted this conference, which had representatives from almost every country in the Americas as well as organizational representation from many agencies, such as the United Nations, World Health Organization, Organization of American States, PAHO, and many other governmental and nongovernmental agencies. Dr. Muņoz appointed me to represent APA at this meeting in consultation with Dr. Miller and Dr. Steven Mirin, APA medical director.

At this meeting, I had the opportunity to introduce, present, and discuss APA's recently published Practice Guideline for Treatment of Patients With Substance Abuse Use Disorders (Alcohol, Cocaine, and Opioids). I was most impressed with the attention given to the practice guideline and the extensive discussion that my presentation generated.

Also at this meeting, a series of initiatives and ideas were discussed in which I hope APA can play a major role, for instance, translation of the APA practice guideline on substance use disorders into Spanish, French, and Portuguese; development of appropriate training manuals aimed at primary care professionals (family physicians, nurses, and so on) and geared to reduce drug use and abuse via educational approaches; new curriculum models on the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of substance abuse to be implemented in selected educational institutions in the Americas; and collaborative research projects in partnership with the National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, and academic medical centers and governments in the Americas.

Without question, Dr. Muņoz has been very creative and bold in launching a major initiative directed to the development of a collaborative approach between APA and other key organizations, governments, and community-oriented groups to find appropriate international solutions to the drug addiction problem in the Americas. As ambitious as Dr. Muņoz's initiative appears to be, it deserves all of our efforts and support. APA cannot turn its back on a problem that is so seriously affecting not only the United States population but also the rest of the world.