According to the "Drug Control Authority Law, 5748-1988", one of IADA's duties is to collect data, to initiate research and to advance knowledge in IADA's areas of activities. Until IADA's establishment in 1988, academic research on the subject of drugs was very limited in Israel. Today, IADA stirves to provide professionals in the field with the most reliable and updated scientific knowledge available in all of its areas of activities: prevention, awareness, treatment, rehabilitation, law enforcement, community development and human resource development.  

IADA devotes tremendous efforts towards the advancement of drug related research and the systematic collection of scientific information, allocating on average 3-5% of its annual budget for research development.

The research conducted at IADA is classified into three types:
I.    National and regional epidemiological surveys - Monitoring the scope of drug use, trends and patterns of use in Israel.

II.  Evaluation research - Evaluating the effectiveness of prevention, education, awareness, training and treatment programs.

III.  Basic Scientific research - Basic scientific research in both the natural sciences and the social and behavioral sciences, to advance knowledge regarding psychoactive substance addiction.

Since its establishment, IADA has initiated and conducted numerous studies and surveys which have contributed to the advancement of drug related research, not only in Israel, but in the international scientific community around the world.

IADA offers grants to scientists and research students (for masters and doctorate degrees) in various disciplines. These often lead to collaborations, participation in scientific conferences, knowledge exchange and study visits by scientists to Israel and from Israel abroad.