Robert L. DuPont (born March 25, 1936, in

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in Lucas County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located at the western end of Lake Erie along the Maumee River. Toledo is the List of cities in Ohio, fourth-most populous city in Ohio and List of United Sta ...

) is an American psychiatrist, known for his advocacy in the field of substance abuse. He is president of the Institute for Behavior and Health, whose mission is "to reduce the use of illegal drugs". He has written books including ''Chemical Slavery: Understanding Addiction and Stopping the Drug Epidemic,'' ''The Selfish Brain: Learning from Addiction'', as well as ''Drug Testing in Treatment Settings'', ''Drug Testing in Schools'', and ''Drug Testing in Correctional Settings'', published by the Hazelden Foundation. DuPont is a fellow of the American Society of Addiction Medicine and a life fellow of the

American Psychiatric Association The American Psychiatric Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the largest psychiatric organization in the world. It has more than 39,200 members who are in ...

. He has described marijuana as "the most dangerous drug",.

Career

In 1958 DuPont earned his BA from

Emory University Emory University is a private university, private research university in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was founded in 1836 as Emory College by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory. Its main campu ...

and in 1963 earned his M.D. from

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the Un ...

. He completed training at Harvard and the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...

. He worked for the

District of Columbia Department of Corrections The District of Columbia Department of Corrections (DCDC) is a law enforcement agency responsible for the adult jails and other adult correctional institutions and law enforcement buildings for the District of Columbia, in the United States.http:/ ...

and in 1970 for the DC Narcotics Treatment Administration. DuPont was the first Director of the

National Institute on Drug Abuse The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is a United States federal government research institute whose mission is to "advance science on the causes and consequences of drug use and addiction and to apply that knowledge to improve individual ...

from 1973 to 1978 and was the second

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

Drug Czar from 1973 to 1977 under presidents

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

and

Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. (born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was the 38th president of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, Ford assumed the p ...

. In 1978 he founded the Institute for Behavior and Health, Inc.Institute for Behavior and Health, Inc. www.ibhinc.org In 1980 he became a clinical professor of psychiatry at the Georgetown University School of Medicine, and founded the Anxiety Disorders Association of America. In 1981 he served as a paid consultant for Straight, Incorporated, one of the few drug treatment programs at that time that enrolled adolescents, which was the subject of numerous allegations of abuse, and which was successfully sued for false imprisonment and maltreatment. In 1982 he and Peter B. Bensinger founded Bensinger, DuPont & Associates, a national consulting firm. He maintains a psychiatric practice in Maryland specializing in addiction and anxiety disorders.

Family

His younger brother is Herbert L. DuPont, M.D. On July 14, 1962, in

Hennepin County, Minnesota Hennepin County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,281,565, and was estimated to be 1,273,334 in 2024, making it the most populous county in Minnesota and the 34th-most populous count ...

, Robert L. DuPont married Helen G. Spink, whose father Wesley W. Spink, M.D., mentored Herbert DuPont. Robert and Helen DuPont have two children.

Sources

* Biography of Robert L. DuPont, MD, Institute for Behavior and Health, Inc. https://www.ibhinc.org/leadership

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dupont, Robert 1936 births American psychiatrists Directors of the Office of National Drug Control Policy Emory University alumni Georgetown University Medical Center faculty Harvard Medical School alumni Living people People from Toledo, Ohio