Robert L. DuPont (born March 25, 1936 in

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and accordin ...

) 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 The Hazelden Foundation is an American non-profit organization based in Center City, Minnesota. Hazelden has alcohol and drug treatment facilities in Minnesota, Oregon, Illinois, Florida, Washington, and New York. It offers assessment and prim ...

. DuPont is a fellow of the

American Society of Addiction Medicine The American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM), founded in 1954, is a professional medical society representing over 6,000 physicians, clinicians and associated professionals in the field of addiction medicine. ASAM is dedicated to increasing ...

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 37,000 members are invol ...

. He has described marijuana as "the most dangerous drug", a description contradicted by current scientific consensus.

Career

In 1958 DuPont earned his BA from

Emory University Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of h ...

and in 1963 earned his M.D. from

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

. He completed training at Harvard and the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U ...

. He worked for the

District of Columbia Department of Corrections The District of Columbia Department of Corrections (DCDC) is a correctional agency responsible for the adult jails and other adult correctional institutions for the District of Columbia, in the United States.http://doc.dc.gov/doc/cwp/view,a,3,q,4915 ...

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 a ...

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. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington, D.C., NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. preside ...

Drug Czar Drug czar is an informal name for the person who directs drug-control policies in various areas. The term follows the informal use of the term ''czar'' in U.S. politics. The 'drug czar' title first appeared in a 1982 news story by United Press Int ...

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 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was t ...

and

Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...

. 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 Georgetown University School of Medicine, a medical school opened in 1851, is one of Georgetown University's five graduate schools. It is located on Reservoir Road in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC, adjacent to the University's ...

, and founded the Anxiety Disorders Association of America. In 1981 he served as a paid consultant for

Straight, Incorporated The Drug Free America Foundation (DFAF) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1976 by former US Ambassador Mel Sembler, his wife Betty Sembler (), and Joseph Zappala as Straight, Inc., renamed The Straight Foundation, Inc. in 1985 and ...

, one of the few drug treatment programs at that time that enrolled adolescents, which was criticized by some as a "controversial non-profit drug rehabilitation program", 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 Peter B. Bensinger (born 1936 in Chicago, Illinois) is a former Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). He served from February 1976 to July 1981 in this position. He was appointed Acting Administrator on January 23, 1976, a ...

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 Herbert "Bert" Lancashire DuPont (born November 12, 1938, in Toledo, Ohio) is an American physician, medical school professor, and medical researcher, specializing in infectious diseases. Education and career DuPont graduated in 1961 from Ohio Wes ...

, M.D. On July 14, 1962 in

Hennepin County, Minnesota Hennepin County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. Its county seat is Minneapolis, the state's most populous city. The county is named in honor of the 17th-century explorer Father Louis Hennepin. The county extends from Minneapol ...

, Robert L. DuPont married Helen G. Spink, whose father

Wesley W. Spink Wesley William Spink (December 17, 1904 – May 14, 1988) was an American physician, medical school professor, college coach, and medical researcher. He was "an internationally recognized authority on infectious diseases and is credited with control ...

, 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 Living people People from Toledo, Ohio Emory University alumni Harvard Medical School alumni Georgetown University Medical Center faculty American psychiatrists