Addiction News

August 20, 2016

Designer Agent Blocks Pain in Mice

Secondhand Pot Smoke Causes Damage Quickly

Colorado's Legalized Pot Means More Kids Exposed

Some Neurons Tell Brain When to Stop Drinking

Latest Headlines

updated 11:38am EDT

Vaping May Lead to Fewer Respiratory Infections for Ex-Smokers

Aug. 19, 2016 — The majority of smokers who successfully switch to vaping say they have fewer respiratory infections, according to a study. The researchers say that this is because smoking increases susceptibility ... read more

Smoking Marijuana Provides More Pain Relief for Men Than Women

Aug. 18, 2016 — Men had greater pain relief than women after smoking marijuana, a new study has found. Despite differences in pain relief, men and women did not report differences in how intoxicated they felt or how ... read more

Study Supports New Strategy to Fight Cocaine Addiction

Aug. 18, 2016 — Strong evidence supporting a new strategy against drug addiction has been revealed by research. The researchers showed that a compound that inhibits the activity of certain brain-cell receptors can ... read more

Black, Hispanic Children, Youth Rarely Get Help for Mental Health Problems

Aug. 12, 2016 — Black youth are about half as likely as their white counterparts to get mental health care despite having similar rates of mental health problems, and Hispanic youth also get only half as much mental ... read more

Does Marriage Affect Drinking? A New Study Provides Insights

Aug. 11, 2016 — Are you more or less likely to drink often and heavily when in a relationship? That may depend on the ... read more

Reducing the Harms of Alcohol Through Weaker Beer

Aug. 10, 2016 — Could a small drop in the alcohol content of beer or other drinks reduce the harmful effects of alcohol in society at large? A new review, which explores the evidence, suggests this approach may be ... read more

Molecule in Brain May Drive Cocaine Addiction, Scientists Show

Aug. 10, 2016 — Increased levels of a molecule in the brain, called hypocretin, may contribute to cocaine addiction, a new study suggests. The research shows that blocking hypocretin may reduce compulsive ... read more

College Students Who Misuse Stimulants More Likely to Have ADHD, Substance-Use Disorder

Aug. 8, 2016 — A new study finds that college students who misuse stimulant drugs are more likely to have attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, conduct disorder ... read more

Drink-Seeking Rats Provide Sobering Look Into Genetics of Alcoholism

Aug. 4, 2016 — Alcohol-craving rats have provided researchers with a detailed look into the complicated genetic underpinnings of ... read more

Preventing Dependency When Patients First Receive Opioids: Say No to Refills

Aug. 3, 2016 — Clinicians should think twice when prescribing opioid medication to patients for the first time to relieve pain, migraines or severe coughs. To ... read more

US Hospital Cuts Painkiller Gateway to Heroin Addiction

Teenagers Who Vape Are More Likely To Smoke Cigarettes Later On

It Looks Like Medical Marijuana Is Burning Up Prescription Drug Sales

Heroin Overdoses In The US Tripled Over The Course Of 4 Years

US and Mexican Controls on Precursor Chemicals May Reduce Cocaine and Meth Use in the US

Aug. 17, 2016 — In December 2006, the USA regulated sodium permanganate, a chemical essential to the manufacture of cocaine. In March 2007, Mexico closed a chemical company accused of illicitly importing more than ... read more

New, Improved Guidelines for Diagnosing Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder

Aug. 10, 2016 — A group of experts on fetal alcohol spectrum disorders has produced proposed clinical guidelines for diagnosing FASD, which can result when a mother drinks during pregnancy. The proposed guidelines ... read more

New Study Evaluates Link Between Young Women's Beliefs on Alcohol Use and Sexual Risk-Taking

Aug. 10, 2016 — A new study looks at how young women's beliefs about alcohol and sex affect condom usage during sexual encounters involving alcohol. The work shows that just over two-thirds (66.9 percent) of ... read more

Highly Curative Hep C Treatment Safe, Effective for Drug Users

Aug. 9, 2016 — Hep C patients being treated for opioid addiction achieved high rates of sustained virologic response after 12 weeks of therapy with elbasvir-grazoprevir compared to those taking placebo for 12 weeks ... read more

Study Finds Racial Disparity in Emergency Department Opioid Prescriptions

Aug. 8, 2016 — A racial disparity has been found in opioid prescriptions for emergency department visits for non-definitive pain-related conditions, say authors of a new ... read more

Prescription Drug Abuse in Europe Is a Bigger Problem Than Previously Thought

Aug. 3, 2016 — International collaborations across the EU are needed to monitor prescription drug abuse, identify its scope and develop targeted interventions, according to the first comparative study of ... read more

Alcohol Advertising Linked to Adolescent Drinking

Aug. 2, 2016 — A new study finds that exposure to several different types of alcohol marketing is positively associated with the amount and frequency of drinking among adolescents across ... read more

Flexible Wearable Electronic Skin Patch Offers New Way to Monitor Alcohol Levels

Aug. 2, 2016 — Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a flexible wearable sensor that can accurately measure a person's blood alcohol level from sweat and transmit the data ... read more

Neuroscience-Based Framework for Addiction Diagnosis

Aug. 2, 2016 — When it comes to an addictive disorder, you either have it or you don't. But this dichotomous nature of the diagnosis fails to recognize the complexity and diversity of addiction's origins ... read more

Addiction Silences Synapses in Reward Circuits

Aug. 2, 2016 — In addiction, cues in the environment can form strong associations with the drug of abuse. A new study suggests that alterations in silent synapses, inactive connections between neurons, could be the ... read more

Why Is Cocaine So Addictive? Study Using Animal Model Provides Clues

Aug. 1, 2016 — Scientists are one step closer to understanding what causes cocaine to be so addictive. Using an animal model, researchers have discovered that cocaine leaves a long-lasting imprint on the dopamine ... read more

Adolescent Exposure to Drugs, Alcohol Fuels Use in Adulthood

July 29, 2016 — Teenagers who have easy access to drugs and alcohol in the home are more likely to drink and do drugs in their early and late 20s. That's according to the one of the first studies to look at how ... read more

'Pain Paradox' Discovery Provides Route to New Pain Control Drugs

July 28, 2016 — A natural substance known to activate pain in the central nervous system has been found to have the opposite effect in other parts of the body, potentially paving the way to new methods of pain ... read more

Recovery of Dopamine Function Emerges With Recovery from Smoking

July 28, 2016 — A new study reports that smoking-related deficits in brain dopamine, a chemical implicated in reward and addiction, return to normal three months after quitting. The normalization of dopamine systems ... read more

Adolescent Drinking Damages Later Verbal Learning and Memory Performance

July 27, 2016 — Adolescence is both a time of rapid neurobiological changes and of the initiation of drinking – alcohol is the most commonly used substance among students in grades eight to 12. Binge-drinking ... read more

Treating Pain Without Feeding Addiction: Study Shows Promise of Non-Drug Pain Management

July 27, 2016 — A new study shows the potential for patients who have both addiction issues and chronic pain to get relief from an approach that combines behavioral therapy and social support to help them manage ... read more

Health Insurance Coverage Is Associated With Lower Odds of Alcohol Use by Pregnant Women

July 26, 2016 — Researchers have studied the relationship between health insurance coverage and tobacco and alcohol use among reproductive age women in the US, and whether there were differences according to ... read more

When Tasting a Favorite Beer, Are You in Your ‘right’ Mind?

July 25, 2016 — According to researchers you might be. Drug-seeking behavior can be prompted or cued by certain kinds of drug-associated ... read more

Significant Pain Increases the Risk of Opioid Addiction by 41 Percent

July 22, 2016 — What do we really know about the relationship between the experience of pain and risk of developing opioid use disorder? Results from a recent study -- the first to directly address this question -- ... read more

Smokers Quitting Tobacco Also Drink Less Alcohol

July 21, 2016 — People who have recently begun an attempt to quit smoking tobacco are more likely to try to drink less alcohol than other smokers, according to ... read more

Wednesday, August 17, 2016