Connecting research, policy and practice - Lessons learned, challenges ahead - Proceedings, April 2004 (2004)

In 2004, in the light of developments in the various international organisations active in the drugs field, the Pompidou Group felt that the time had come to assess what had been learnt over the past twenty years and to identify gaps in knowledge in order to strengthen the drug research base for promoting evidence-based policies. This rationale became the objective of the Pompidou Group's strategic conference on "Connecting research, policy and practice: lessons learned, challenges ahead" (Strasbourg, 6-7 April 2004), the proceedings of which are presented in this publication.One of the conference findings described here is that many important drug issues get "lost in translation" between politicians, practitioners and scientists. Hence the need for the Pompidou Group to play a role as a platform to improve the exchange and transfer of knowledge.