Instead it makes it look very much as if NIAAA is being subsumed into NIDA simply to make statutory way for the creation of this new translational medicine Center.
And that is a whoooole ‘nother ballgame. Because the discussion now should be “Is NIAAA worth losing in favor of the new Center?”.
To remind my readers, my approval of the NIDA/NIAAA merger is based on the stipulation that merging ICs is a good idea, will lead to efficiencies, etc. And that there is a general will to further scale back the number of ICs. Given this motivation the NIDA/NIAAA merger is about as obvious as can be. If those goals are not a given, then I’m in a very different stance about this current merger.
And I really, really do not like disingenuous bait-and-switch arguments. This is starting to smell like one.
I was never really sold on the merger, myself, as I thought alcohol research was different (in some interesting ways) then research on other recreational drugs. That being said, I wonder if (at some point) it might be worth rethinking the 27 centers from first principles and making sure that they are the one that best serve the goals of public health?
