Being instituted in Viareggio in 1994, AUCNS is as a no-profit association aiming to promote the spreading of scientific knowledge and its application upon issues of mental illness and substance abuse. AUCNS is involved into research and teaching activities, and the organization of seminars, conferences and public debates with either scientific or popular audience targets. Among these, the most remarkable are the National Conference of Addictive Diseases, taking place in Italy every two years, The European Opiate Addiction Treatment Association (Europad) Conference taking place in different European towns every two years, and a Europad satellite meeting within the American Opioid Treatment Association Conference (AATOD) in the USA, every 18 months. AUCNS directly cooperates with national and international associations on the basis of common purposes and fields of interests, and runs an editing activity comprising psychiatry and substance abuse textbooks, and the official magazine of Europad, ”Heroin Addiction and Related Clinical Problems”.