Feature Channels: Addiction

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A Case Western Reserve University professor has found that young people addicted to alcohol and drugs can increase their chances of recovery by helping others. In a study of nearly 200 juvenile offenders, Maria Pagano, PhD, found that youth who became active in AA-related helping (AAH) during treatment were less likely to test positive for alcohol and drugs during treatment and had greater psychosocial improvement.

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Study shows striking demographic shift in hospital admissions due to prescription opiate and heroin-related overdoses, 1993-2009.

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Smokeless tobacco users who said they didn’t want to quit changed their minds or significantly cut back when given nicotine lozenges or tobacco-free snuff in a Mayo Clinic study. The findings are published in the February issue of Addictive Behaviors.

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Hunger, thirst, stress and drugs can create a change in the brain that transforms a repulsive feeling into a strong positive "wanting," a new University of Michigan study indicates.

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Scientists have identified genetic circumstances under which common mutations on two genes interact in the presence of cocaine to produce a nearly eight-fold increased risk of death as a result of abusing the drug.

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Switching the type of syringe used by people who inject drugs could help curb HIV transmission in countries with injection-driven epidemics within eight years, according to a new article by researchers at RTI International and Futures Institute.

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Prescription drug misuse is second only to marijuana as the nation’s most prevalent illicit drug problem, with approximately 22 million persons nationwide initiating nonmedical pain reliever use since 2002, according to a report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The report also shows variations in use by state, with combined 2010 and 2011 data indicating that rates of past year misuse among those aged 12 or older ranged from 3.6 percent in Iowa to 6.4 percent in Oregon.

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Roughly half of all black and Hispanic patients who enter publicly funded alcohol treatment programs do not complete treatment, compared to 62 percent of white patients, according to a new study from a team of researchers including the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Comparable disparities were also identified for drug treatment program completion rates.

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Adults who had parents who struggled with addiction, unemployment and divorce are 10 times more likely to have been victims of childhood physical abuse, according to a new study prepared by the University of Toronto's Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work.

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InterveXion Therapeutics LLC and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) have successfully completed dosing in the first human safety study of a medication to help methamphetamine users fight their addictions.

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Cinnamon, nutmeg and even marshmallows are being intentionally abused in risky behavior, says Christina Hantsch, MD, toxicologist at Loyola University Health System. Once folly for teenagers, pre-teens are now copying what they see from Internet videos with dangerous results.

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As the prescribed use of buprenorphine has dramatically increased in recent years, accidental exposure of children to the drug has risen sharply, placing them at risk for serious injury, and in extremely rare cases even death.

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While the number of casinos in Iowa has doubled since 1995, there are fewer gamblers overall, and fewer gambling addicts as well, according to a new study from the University of Iowa. The results suggest the market for gaming facilities, in Iowa and other states, reaches a saturation point. Findings published in the journal Annals of Clinical Psychiatry.

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Dennis Donovan, director of the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute at the University of Washington, says that alcohol is a major issue around the holidays for both social drinkers and those recovering from alcoholism. He has advice for how to drink moderately, and treatment approaches he's used with people recovering from alcohol problems.

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A study published by Oregon Health and Sciences University in The Journal of Pain showed that patients on higher doses of opioids had higher rates of psychiatric problems, co-prescriptions of sedatives and health care services utilization.

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Addiction to pain medication is creating new challenges for physicians. Would you believe -- hydrocodone was the most prescribed drug in America in 2011?

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New research out of the University of Cincinnati suggests boys are more likely than girls to abuse over-the-counter drugs.

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Vanderbilt researchers are reporting today that a drug currently used to treat type 2 diabetes could be just as effective in treating addiction to drugs, including cocaine. The findings, published online today as a Letter To The Editor in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, could have far-reaching implications for patients worldwide who suffer from addiction.

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A new study in JEM may provide a powerful new way to reduce relapses in people who have quit smoking or chewing tobacco.

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Mother rats respond much differently to cocaine than female rats that have never given birth, according to new research that looks at both behavior and brain chemistry. The findings may help lay the groundwork for more tailored human addiction treatment.

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State physician health programs (PHPs) play a key role in helping doctors with substance abuse problems. But the current PHP system is inconsistent and prone to potential conflicts of interest and ethical issues, according to a review available as publish ahead of print content from the December 2012 issue of Journal of Addiction Medicine, the official journal of the American Society of Addiction Medicine. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

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Chronic morphine exposure has the opposite effect on the brain compared to cocaine in mice, providing new insight into the basis of opiate addiction, according to Mount Sinai School of Medicine researchers.

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Less than half of community-based substance abuse treatment programs in the United States currently make HIV testing available on-site or through referral. A new study led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College shows the cost-effectiveness of integrating on-site rapid HIV testing into drug treatment programs.

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After chronic alcohol exposure, mice are unable to control a learned fear response, shedding light on the link between alcoholism and anxiety problems like post-traumatic stress disorder.

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Elaine Mitchell Palmore, the director of MTSU's Child Development Center, is writing children's literature for the needs of today's children. She tries to help children understand about divorce and families dealing with substance abuse or any life-controlling issue. Illustrated by Norris Hall.

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A "contingency management" approach—offering incentives for negative drug tests—can help promote drug abstinence among pregnant women with heroin or cocaine addiction, reports a study in the September Addictive Disorders & Their Treatment. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

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The new imaging study in a mouse model for fetal alcohol spectrum disorders could enhance the diagnoses of birth defects caused by alcohol exposure in the womb and it illustrates how the precise timing of that exposure could determine specific kinds of defects.

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In a major breakthrough, an international team of scientists has proven that addiction to morphine and heroin can be blocked, while at the same time increasing pain relief.

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New report shows significant differences in demographics and abuse patterns of substance abuse treatment admissions in rural versus urban communities.

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A recent study challenged an enduring belief that women were less successful than men in quitting smoking. The study, published in the journal Tobacco Control, found convincing evidence that across all of the age groups, “there [is] relatively little difference in cessation between the sexes.”

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A new risk management plan from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to help clinicians properly prescribe drugs with addiction potential aims to help reduce the growing epidemic of opioid abuse in the United States. With deaths associated with these drugs, often sold illegally, now reaching toward 14,000 each year – including the fatal shootings of two Philadelphia teenagers last week in a house where police found large quantities of Percocet and morphine, prescription drug pads, and more than $100,000 in cash -- the authors of a Viewpoint piece in the new issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association say the new plan represents a promising opportunity to cut the amount of addictive prescription drugs in circulation for sale and abuse.

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Children who exhibit oppositional behavior run the risk of becoming addicted to nicotine, cannabis and cocaine whilst Inattention symptoms represent a specific additional risk of nicotine addiction. Nevertheless, hyperactivity in itself does not seem to be associated with any specific risk of substance abuse or dependence.

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Loyola Physician Talks about Quitting Smoking to Improve Your Health and Finances

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The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) today released two reports regarding substance abuse. The first indicates that youths between the ages of 12 and 17 are far more likely to start using most substances during the summer than during other parts of the year. The second report of data from the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) system shows that the rate of increase in drug-related emergency department (ED) visits slowed from an average annual rate of 18.2 percent in the years between 2005 and 2008, to an average annual rate of 6.1 percent in the years 2009 and 2010.

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Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College have developed and successfully tested in mice an innovative vaccine to treat nicotine addiction. In the journal Science Translational Medicine, the scientists describe how a single dose of their novel vaccine protects mice, over their lifetime, against nicotine addiction. The vaccine is designed to use the animal's liver as a factory to continuously produce antibodies that gobble up nicotine the moment it enters the bloodstream, preventing the chemical from reaching the brain and even the heart.

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The American Board of Addiction Medicine Foundation (ABAM Foundation) today lauded the significant findings and recommendations in the landmark report just published by CASA Columbia, Addiction Medicine: Closing the Gap between Science and Practice.

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Addiction to food may be replaced by an addiction to alcohol according to JAMA research and a Loyola bariatric surgeon shares why this is important.

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Western Illinois University Department of Health Sciences Assistant Professor Amanda Divin and her colleague, Keith Zullig, an associate professor in the West Virginia University School of Public Health, recently conducted and published a study that explores non-medical prescription drug use and depressive symptoms in college students.

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A University at Buffalo study finds that smokers who consume plenty of fruits and vegetables are three times more likely to quit.

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Study in rats suggests transgenerational effects.

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A new study shows the same gene variations that make it difficult to stop smoking also increase the likelihood that heavy smokers will respond to nicotine-replacement therapy and drugs that thwart cravings. The finding suggests it may one day be possible to predict which patients are most likely to benefit from drug treatments for nicotine addiction.

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Health care professionals do a better job helping people quit smoking when they are trained in smoking cessation techniques, a new Cochrane Library review finds.

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A new report shows that while a significant segment of minors and young adults are still current smokers, there was a decrease in the rate of cigarette use among these populations between 2004 and 2010 (the year with the latest available data). The report, based on the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), shows that the rate of current cigarette use (having smoked at least once in the past month) among adolescents decreased from 11.9 percent in 2004 to 8.3 percent in 2010. Similarly, the level of current cigarette users among young adults decreased from 39.5 percent in 2004 to 34.2 percent in 2010.

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Tanning has captured center stage in the American consciousness with the reports of a New Jersey woman charged with second-degree child endangerment for allegedly taking her child to a tanning bed where she was burned.

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Steve Feldman, M.D., dermatology, conducted the ground-breaking research that found tanning could be addictive because of the endorphins that are released.

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A popular smoking cessation medication has been under a cloud of suspicion ever since the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) published a study July 2011 reporting “risk of serious adverse cardiovascular events associated with varenicline.” Varenicline, also known as Chantix, blocks the pleasant effects of nicotine on the smoker’s brain and lessens nicotine withdrawal symptoms.

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The smoking cessation drug varenicline significantly reduced alcohol consumption in a group of heavy-drinking smokers, in a study carried out by researchers at the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center at the University of California, San Francisco.

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Women who smoke and carry specific variations in the genes that impact their metabolism are at higher risk of developing hot flashes in comparison with smokers who do not carry these gene variants, according to a recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism (JCEM).

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More mothers using drugs like OxyContin, Vicodin, giving birth to babies in drug withdrawal, results of study published in JAMA.

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In the largest imaging study of the human brain ever conducted—involving 1,896 14-year-olds—scientists have discovered networks that go a long way toward explaining why some teenagers start experimenting with drugs and alcohol.