World Addiction Medicine Reports: Formation of the International Society of Addiction Medicine (ISAM) Global Expert Network (ISAM- GEN) and Its Global Surveys

Addiction medicine is a dynamic field that encompasses clinical practice and research in the context of societal, economic, and cultural factors at the local, national, regional, and global levels. This field has evolved profoundly during the past decades in terms of scopes and activities with the contribution of addiction medicine scientists and professionals globally. The dynamic nature of drug addiction at the global level has resulted in a crucial need for developing an international collaborative network of addiction societies, treatment programs and experts to monitor emerging concerns at national, regional, and global levels. In this protocol, methodological details of running longitudinal surveys at national, regional, and global levels through the Global Expert Network of the International Society of Addiction Medicine (ISAM-GEN) are presented. The surveys will be developed by global experts in addiction medicine on treatment services, service coverage, comorbidities, treatment standards and barriers, emerging drug addictions and/or dynamic changes in treatment needs across the world. Survey participants in categories of (1) addiction societies/associations, (2) addiction treatment programs, (3) addiction experts/clinicians and (4) related stakeholders will respond to these longitudinal global surveys. The results will be analyzed and cross-examined with available data and peer-reviewed for publication.