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The nonprofit Cure Addiction Now (CAN) was founded in 2018 by Nancy Davis and her late son Jason Davis, who passed away from an overdose in 2020 after struggling with opioid use disorder for 12 years. The first fundraising benefit was held in 2025, with $800,000 raised for 19 scientific research initiatives related to dual-diagnosis mental health frameworks. David Foster Rufus Wainwright Taylor…
Led by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the National Recovery Month is held every September. Studies have shown spikes in first-time drug use in students over the summer, so September serves as a chance to reach students who might need help at the start of a new school year. Each year has a new theme to give local advocacy groups a common focus point, such…
The Unite to Face Addiction rally was held on 2015, which led to the formation of the nonprofit Facing Addiction, which merged with Partnership for Drug-Free Kids to form the Partnership to End Addiction. The group was part of a coalition of organizations lobbying for the passage of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) in 2016. Local offshoots like Unite to Face Addiction Michigan…
The National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers (NAATP) hosts an NAATP Hill Day that brings treatment providers and advocates to Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. to meet with federal representatives. It comes at the end of the NAATP National Addiction Leadership Conference. https://www.naatp.org/naatp-national
The End Addiction BHAM Walk was organized by the Addiction Prevention Coalition (APC) in Birmingham, Alabama for the first time in 2017. Originally, it was named the “End Heroin Birmingham Walk” before being renamed for all substance use disorders. It gathered 3000-4000 attendees and 75 community organizations before its final year in 2026. The organizers and participants are now pivoting to new…
Led by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the National Prevention Week (NPW) is an annual substance use prevention campaign held in the second week of May, as studies show a spike in first-time drug use around June and July. The campaign gives educators and community leaders an opportunity to educate students before they go off on summer break.
The National Fentanyl Awareness Day on April 29th was established in 2022 by a grassroots coalition of families who had lost children to fentanyl overdoses. The organization Facing Fentanyl established National Fentanyl Prevention and Awareness Day on August 21st. Both were formally acknowledged by federal agencies like the CDC as well as state governments that passed resolutions to officially…
The National Overdose Awareness Week is an American initiative that coincides with a global International Overdose Awareness Day on August 31st, from August 28th to September 3rd.
International Overdose Awareness Day (IOAD) was established in 2001 by Sally J. Finn and Peter Streker, who were working at The Salvation Army’s needle exchange program in St. Kilda, Melbourne, Australia. The first event, set for August 31st, was held at the needle exchange facility as a community barbecue. Ultimately, 6000 silver ribbons were distributed across Australia and New Zealand in honor…
Shatterproof started as a nonprofit in 2013 by Gary Mendell following the passing of his son, who took his own life after a struggle with addiction and its social stigma. The Shatterproof Walk to End Addiction was launched in 2017, and, as of 2026, mobilizes across six cities in the United States with over 5000 annual participants and $1.5 million raised each year. Gary Mendell, Founder and CEO…
The Panhellenic Medical Congress is one of the oldest medical conferences in Greece, established in 1901 by the Athens Medical Society, which was founded in 1835. Events were hosted periodically until 1975, when the military dictatorship fell and the Athens Medical Society restructured themselves for an annual event. In the 1903 conference, the participants drafted a proposal to run a…
Mel Schulstad was one of the founders of NAADAC, then known as the National Association of Alcoholism Counselors (NAAC). He was a WWII bomber pilot who retired in 1966 to volunteer for the Fairfax Hospital alcohol program. In 1973, he was a paid counselor for Arlington County and elected as the first President of the Virginia Association of Alcoholism Counselors (VAAC), which renamed later to the…
The John Hopkins University President’s Frontier Award is given to a faculty member poised to make a defining contribution. It was established in 2015 as a $300,000 funding award for potential breakthroughs backed by a donation from Louis J. Forster, a university trustee. Its multi-tiered nomination process goes through the Office of the Vice Provost for Research.
In 2023, Dr. Cathy Sloan at the University of West London organized the Addiction Recovery Arts Network to bring together arts recovery organizations. From Sloan: ““Recovery Arts can be a very effective conduit for expressing and developing recovery identities. They enable the sharing of lived experience either directly, through autobiographical work, or indirectly, through exploring themes…
The Evive Summit is a specialized conference for business development and networking among owners and executives of treatment centers, especially with B2B vendors. Organized by Powwow Events, it tends to be scheduled alongside EDGE, a similar summit that focuses on Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) for children and adolescents. This makes it easier for executives and owners to…
The Minnesota Model is one of the most commonly adopted formats for addiction treatment centers, and its start in Minnesota led to a large surge of youth participants in A.A. To accommodate them, especially in the context of old timers being wary that younger alcoholics had “suffered enough” or “hit rock bottom” in order to begin recovery. The Minnesota Young People in Alcoholics Anonymous…
Hosted by The Peer Company (formerly the Mental Health & Addiction Association of Oregon), the national conference focuses on fostering collaboration that advances the peer recovery movement. In 2026, the event took place in Seaside, Oregon from May 4-7 with the theme “Rooted & Rising.” From their main page: “This theme honors where we’ve come from, our grassroots beginnings and the deep roots…
Hosted by the Consortium on Addiction Recovery Science (CoARS) since 2024, the National Conference on Addiction Recovery Science (NCARS) claims to be the only national conference exclusively focused on the science of substance use disorder recovery. It was designed as a virtual-first event to maximize accessibility and input into discussions about measuring recovery capital rather than just…
The International Society of Addiction Journal Editors (ISAJE) hosts an annual conference since they were formally established in 2001. While it began as a small event for academic editors to discuss issues and guidelines concerning academic publishing, it grew and adopted a hybrid format to all international participants to attend remotely. The physical conference changes its location each year…
The California Society of Addiction Medicine (CSAM) is a regional chapter of the national American Society for Addiction Medicine (ASAM), and they’ve hosted an annual conference since they were organized in 1974 by Gail Jara and Jess Bromley. https://www.csam-asam.org/events/2026-annual-conference