Illegal Drugs News

August 23, 2016

Secondhand Pot Smoke Causes Damage Quickly

Colorado's Legalized Pot Means More Kids Exposed

Pot Use Dampens Brain's Response to Reward

THC Cuts Alzheimer's Proteins from Brain Cells

Latest Headlines

updated 2:37am EDT

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

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

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

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

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

Chronic Low Back Pain Linked to Higher Rates of Illicit Drug Use

July 21, 2016 — People living with chronic low back pain (cLBP) are more likely to use illicit drugs -- including marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine -- compared to those without back pain, reports a ... read more

Why Scientists Are Calling for Experiments on Ecstasy

July 14, 2016 — MDMA, more commonly known as ecstasy, promotes strong feelings of empathy in users and is classified as a Schedule 1 drug -- a category reserved for compounds with no accepted medical use and a high ... read more

US Hospital Cuts Painkiller Gateway to Heroin Addiction

It Looks Like Medical Marijuana Is Burning Up Prescription Drug Sales

Medical Schools Tackle Opioid Painkiller Abuse

Clinical Trial Offers New Hope For Marijuana-Based Prescription Drugs

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

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

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

New Probe Developed for Improved High Resolution Measurement of Brain Temperature

July 20, 2016 — Scientists have created a new optical fiber-based probe capable of making pinpoint brain temperature measurements in moving lab ... read more

Drug-Use May Hamper Moral Judgment

July 13, 2016 — Regular cocaine and methamphetamine users can have difficulty choosing between right and wrong, perhaps because the specific parts of their brains used for moral processing and evaluating emotions ... read more

Not Blowing Smoke: Research Finds Medical Marijuana Lowers Prescription Drug Use

July 6, 2016 — Medical marijuana is having a positive impact on the bottom line of Medicare's prescription drug benefit program in states that have legalized its use for medicinal purposes, according to new ... read more

Mixing Cannabis With Tobacco Increases Dependence Risk, Suggests Study

July 5, 2016 — People who mix tobacco with cannabis are less motivated to seek help to ... read more

Study Uses Diverse Sample to Examine Childhood Weight's Link to Age of First Substance Use

June 28, 2016 — Girls who were overweight as children are likely to begin using cigarettes, marijuana or alcohol at an earlier age than their healthy-weight peers, according to a new ... read more

How the Federal Government Limits Valid Scientific Research on Cannabis Sativa

June 24, 2016 — The use of medical marijuana for millions of patients suffering from a wide range of health conditions and the subsequent therapeutic benefits has long been documented. Cannabis sativa can benefit ... read more

Experts Off Guidance on Medical Marijuana for Pain

June 23, 2016 — Marijuana often is used to self treat chronic pain and, with 24 states legalizing medical use of the herb, experts have published guidance for physicians caring for patients who use cannabis. The ... read more

Rates of Nonmedical Prescription Opioid Use, Opioid Use Disorder Double in 10 Years

June 22, 2016 — Nonmedical use of prescription opioids more than doubled among adults in the United States from 2001-2002 to 2012-2013, based on a new American ... read more

Childhood Abuse, Chronic Parental Domestic Violence Linked to Later Addictions

June 22, 2016 — Adults who have drug or alcohol dependency have experienced very high rates of early adversities, according to a new study. One in five drug dependent Canadian adults and one in six alcohol dependent ... read more

Cannabis Use During Pregnancy May Affect Brain Development in Offspring: Thicker Prefrontal Cortex

June 20, 2016 — Cannabis use during pregnancy is associated with abnormal brain structure in children, according to a new study. Compared with unexposed children, those who were prenatally exposed to cannabis had a ... read more

Carrots and Sticks Fail to Change Behavior in Cocaine Addiction

June 16, 2016 — People who are addicted to cocaine are particularly prone to developing habits that render their behavior resistant to change, regardless of the potentially devastating consequences, suggests new ... read more

Adolescent Alcohol, Marijuana Use Leads to Poor Academic Performance, Health Problems

June 14, 2016 — Adolescents who use both marijuana and alcohol during middle school and high school are more likely to have poor academic performance and mental health during high school, according to a new study ... read more

Rolling on Molly: US High School Seniors Underreport Ecstasy Use When Not Asked About Molly

June 13, 2016 — A new study compared self-reported ecstasy/MDMA use with and without 'Molly' in the definition. Researchers found that reported lifetime use (8.0 percent vs. 5.5 percent) was significantly ... read more

Addiction as a Disorder of Reward Learning: New Role for Glial Energy Metabolism in Addiction

June 9, 2016 — Addiction may be viewed as a disorder of reward learning. To date, addiction research has focused on the molecular adaptations through which memories of exposure to abused substances are encoded and ... read more

Trauma in Childhood Linked to Drug Use in Adolescence

June 8, 2016 — Latest research from a national sample of almost 10,000 US adolescents found psychological trauma, especially abuse and domestic violence before age 11, can increase the likelihood of experimentation ... read more

Long-Term Marijuana Use Changes Brain's Reward Circuit

June 7, 2016 — Researchers have demonstrated that long-term marijuana users had more activity in the brain's reward processes when presented with cannabis cues than with natural reward ... read more

Hunting for the Brain's Opioid Addiction Switch

May 31, 2016 — New research is contributing to a better understanding of the ways opiate-class drugs modify brain circuits to drive the addiction cycle. The identification of these opiate-induced changes offers the ... read more

Wednesday, August 17, 2016