Centre for Drug Research

Brief History

• In 1973, WHO team assessed drug abuse situation in the country and recommended to conduct in-depth studies.

• In 1978, the Drug Abuse Research Centre was formally established by Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) under the office of the Vice Chancellor and designated as a “National Centre (Pusat Penyelidikan Dadah Kebangsaan) to undertake research for developing policies and guidelines for drug abuse programmes” and its research activities were placed under the Cabinet Committee on Drug Abuse Control

• The Centre gained attention and recognition of international organizations such as WHO and United Nations Narcotics Commission which led to its designation as a WHO Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Drug Dependence in 1979.

• In 1980, the Centre functioned additionally as an International Data Centre on the Epidemiology of Drug Dependence. In recognition of the regional and international value of the Centre’s research activities, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime designated it as a UN Collaborating Centre in Research and Training in 1981 under Article 8(c) and 38(b) of the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs 1961 as amended by the 1972 protocol.

• In 1983, WHO earmarked analytical methods and clinical pharmacology as potential areas to be developed in the fields of drug development resulting in a five-year (1985-1989) grant to the Centre to strengthen its research capacity.

• On 1st February 1985, the Centre was upgraded to a full-fledged Centre at Universiti Sains Malaysia and is now known as Pusat Penyelidikan Dadah dan Ubat-Ubatan or Centre for Drug Research (CDR).

• In 2002, the Centre was given due recognition by USM under the World Class Research Programmes

• In 2009, CDR was selected as one of the Higher Institutions’ Centres of Excellence (HICoE) by the Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia.