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Strategic plan and goals
The American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) has a new strategic plan for the years 2018-2021 and they plan to focus on the entire range that is the addiction treatment and the recovery period. With this new plan the organization believes that they “will continue to set standards, pioneer research, educate professionals and the public, and challenge stigma.” Overall the organization has one main vision and that is that there will be all aspects of addiction treatment, prevention, and recovery will be available for everyone who wants or needs it to better themselves and therefore with this it could better all aspects of addiction treatment programs.



Values
There are certain values that the American Society of Addiction Medicine tries to uphold to their utmost potential. One of the values is leadership and the ASAM believes they are true to this value since the employees that work in the organization are devoted to the wellness of people in need. Other values are innovation and integrity. They demonstrate these values with the use of evidence in policy statements that the organization puts out since they want to have the correct information. Also they believe in the value that is openness and they trust that they are following this value since the organization believes that they are dispersing the best addiction treatment. The last main value is compassion, and this value is evident by the statement that the organization has released saying that they are devoted to the treatment and problem that is addiction.

Ruth Fox Memorial Endowment Fund
This is a fund that was established in honor of the American Society of Addiction Medicine’s first president and founder Dr. Ruth Fox. This fund is used by the organization to help fund opportunities to grow and expand while allowing other funds, such as membership dues, to keep the organization running normal and functional. Another thing that was established in honor of the founder and first president is The Ruth Fox Scholarship and this is funded by the endowment fund. The scholarship is given to students who are interested in the field of addiction research and treatment. The students are also given an all expense paid trip to the ASAM’s annual conference as a part of the scholarship. During the ASAM annual conference, the donors that have contributed five thousand or more dollars are honored at a special invitation only reception as a thank you.

Upcoming events for the American Society of Addiction Medicines
From April 12th, 2018, to April 15th, 2018, the 49th American Society of Addiction Medicine annual conference was held in San Diego, California at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront. From July 26th, 2018, to July 28th, 2018, there will be the ASAM review course in addiction medicine held in Dallas, Texas at The Gaylord Texan Resort. From April 4th, 2019, to April 7th, 2019, there will be the American Society of Addiction Medicine’s 50th annual conference and that will be held in Orlando, Florida held at the Hilton Orlando.

Definition of addiction by the American Society of Addiction Medicine
It is important to understand the definition of addiction put out by the America Society of Addiction Medicine so that one can understand what the organization is fighting for and what they are trying to correct. This is the definition of addiction according to the ASAM “Addiction is a primary, chronic disease of brain reward, motivation, memory and related circuitry… Addiction is characterized by inability to consistently abstain, impairment in behavioral control, [and] craving, diminished recognition of significant problems with one’s behaviors and interpersonal relationships, and a dysfunctional emotional response.”

A mention of the benefits that come from joining the American Society of Addiction Medicine
The ASAM is a large professional society and they are pursuing to make the addiction medicine field more extensive. Being a member of the ASAM organization, gives one the opportunity to help expand the treatment and protocol within addiction treatment by helping the organization by becoming a member. Also there is an increased access to peers and the opportunity to network with them. This also gives one opportunity to attend courses in addiction medicine.

How to take action according to the American Society of Addiction Medicine
The organization believes that it is important that as a citizen you help promote democracy and because of that they want people to help sway their representative’s votes on certain bills. The organization believes that there are a few ways that one can do to accomplish this. One way is to call a senator and tell them what one believes is the right choice and how they should vote; another way is to use Twitter or Facebook and tell the representatives, there as well, so that they can see what the public opinion is.

A policy statement on the Ethical Promotion of Addiction Treatment Medications
The overall policy statement is about the part or features of the different pharmaceutical companies and how they need to keep all these aspects ethical. Some of the aspects are how they work with their clients, patients and medicine in general, also how they produce and develop the medicine. Some of the American Society of Addiction Medicine recommendations are that pharmaceutical organizations need to not break any rules that have been set by the Federal Drug Administration, need to not do anything that will result in legislative activity, and to use correct language that coincides with the definition of the disorders that are being presented.