In 2024, NIDA celebrates its 50th anniversary. On May 14, 1974, an act of Congress established the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), and since then NIDA has led the world in funding and conducting research on drug use and addiction. NIDA research has been instrumental in shifting the mindset of medicine and the public from viewing addiction as deviance toward understanding it as a health condition that is preventable, treatable, and deserving of compassion and support.