From Evidence to Practice: Advances in Substance Use Disorder Care

Evidence-based interventions can improve prevention, treatment and recovery outcomes, but knowing what works does not guarantee that people will benefit. Effective responses depend on trained professionals, supportive systems, coordinated services and the ability to translate research into everyday practice. Even when appropriate interventions exist, gaps in implementation, access and continuity of care can limit their impact.

These challenges were at the centre of From Evidence to Practice: Advances in Substance Use Disorder Care, held on 22 September during ISSUP’s 2026 virtual conference. Chaired by Livia Edegger, the session brought together perspectives from the European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and researchers working in Nigeria, the United States and the field of recovery support.

Watch the session recording and explore the presentations.

The presentations explored different stages of the journey from evidence to impact: strengthening professional and institutional capacity, developing sustainable prevention and treatment systems, reaching people through non-traditional settings, addressing missed treatment opportunities in primary care, and supporting recovery beyond clinical treatment.

The presentations considered a shared question: How can we move beyond generating evidence to ensuring that effective interventions reach people and improve their lives?

Five perspectives on translating evidence into practice

Dr Marica Ferri (EUDA) explored how health and social responses can move from monitoring substance use challenges to building the capacity to address them. She described a continuous learning cycle in which evidence informs interventions, implementation generates learning, and evaluation guides improvement.

A central message was that professional development requires more than individual training courses. EUDA's emerging learning ecosystem includes updated curricula, training of trainers, e-learning, communities of practice and professional exchanges. As she explained, “The unit of change is larger than the learner.” Strengthening individual competence must therefore go hand in hand with strengthening teams, organisations and systems.

Giovanna Campello (UNODC) examined why evidence-based prevention and treatment approaches are not consistently implemented. International standards and training curricula provide important foundations, but, as she emphasised, “A publication is not enough.”

Sustainable change requires a competent workforce, supportive policies and community participation. Drawing on experiences including the expansion of opioid agonist treatment in Kenyan prisons, she demonstrated how evidence, political commitment and community mobilisation can reinforce one another. She also highlighted the importance of systematically adapting existing evidence-based interventions to local contexts rather than always starting from scratch. The goal should be to make effective services available equitably, not only to a fortunate few.

Dr Fatima Abiola Popoola presented research from Nigeria examining Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) among young people in a non-medical setting within the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.

Using the WHO ASSIST screening tool, participants received responses according to their substance-use risk levels. Follow-up findings suggested promising reductions in risk for several substances and improvements in readiness to change, although results varied, particularly among those at severe risk related to solvent use.

The study highlighted the potential for trained professionals to extend early intervention beyond traditional healthcare settings, particularly where specialised treatment is limited or costly. Further research is needed to establish effectiveness and determine how such approaches can be implemented safely and sustainably.

Dr Brian Maila examined missed opportunities for treating alcohol use disorder in primary care in Southern California. Despite the availability of effective medications, only 25.4% of the study sample had documented receipt of medication for alcohol use disorder during the six months preceding an acute-care encounter.

His findings highlighted the need for more systematic assessment, shared decision-making, structured clinical pathways and stronger coordination between primary care, addiction treatment and other services. The study identifies a treatment gap, although further research is needed to understand the reasons behind differences in treatment receipt.

Dr Jo-Hanna Ivers shifted attention beyond treatment to the conditions that support sustained recovery. As she explained, “Recovery is a trajectory, not an event.”

Recovery capital includes personal, social and community resources such as supportive relationships, stable housing, employment, education and a sense of purpose. These resources can strengthen recovery but may also be depleted by poverty, stigma and fragmented services.

Her presentation challenged the assumption that equal access to treatment necessarily creates equal opportunities for recovery. Sustained recovery depends not only on individual efforts and clinical care, but also on the systems and environments to which people return.

Putting the learning into practice

The session offered several practical lessons for ISSUP members working across prevention, treatment, recovery, research and policy:

• Policymakers and programme managers can prioritise evidence-based interventions, strengthen implementation capacity and monitor whether services achieve their intended outcomes and reach underserved populations.

• Trainers and professional organisations can complement training with supervision, mentoring, communities of practice and opportunities to apply learning in real-world settings.

• Healthcare and treatment professionals can review assessment and referral pathways, identify missed treatment opportunities and strengthen coordination across services.

• Prevention and justice professionals can explore appropriate opportunities for screening, brief intervention and referral beyond conventional healthcare settings, while ensuring professional competence, confidentiality and informed consent.

• Recovery and community organisations can strengthen connections between treatment, housing, employment, education and social support to help people sustain recovery.

• Researchers and evaluators can examine not only whether interventions work, but how they are implemented, who benefits, what barriers remain and whether improvements last.

Across these roles, a common priority is to move beyond counting activities, training participants or delivering interventions. Success should be assessed through improvements in professional practice, service quality, equitable access and meaningful outcomes for the people receiving support.

ISSUP members could use the session recording to identify one gap between evidence and current practice in their own settings, discuss it with relevant partners and agree on a practical improvement to implement and evaluate.

Further learning and investigation

• EUDA Best Practice Portal: evidence, implementation tools and resources for strengthening prevention and treatment responses.

• European Prevention Curriculum (EUPC): professional development resources supporting evidence-based prevention.

• UNODC–WHO International Standards on Drug Use Prevention: guidance for effective prevention interventions and systems.

• UNODC–WHO International Standards for the Treatment of Drug Use Disorders: guidance for quality, evidence-based treatment services.

• WHO ASSIST Package: resources supporting screening and brief intervention.

The session reinforced a central message: evidence alone does not create change. Meaningful progress requires the capacity to implement what works, evaluate outcomes, adapt to changing needs and build systems that support people beyond individual interventions. Connecting research, professional development, service delivery and recovery support is essential to making evidence-based responses more effective, equitable and sustainable.