Feature Channels: Addiction

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Although widely considered a blunder of public policy, the alcohol prohibition laws of early 20th century America may have led to increased longevity for those born in places where alcohol was banned, according to new research from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.The study — recently published in the journal Economics and Human Biology and co-authored by Jason Fletcher of UW’s La Follette School of Public Affairs — is the first to research the long-term effects of Prohibition Era on longevity, adding to the understanding of the longer-term costs of alcohol exposure during pregnancy.

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More older Americans use cannabis now than before the pandemic, with 12% saying they’ve consumed a THC-containing substance in the past year and 4% saying they do so multiple times a week, according to a new study of people aged 50 to 80.

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A nearly decade-long study by UCLA researchers found that substance abuse treatment of any kind may help to reduce methamphetamine usage among men who have sex with other men.

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The latest articles on occupational medicine, workplace culture, and the labor market are in the "In the Workplace" channel on Newswise.

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A new study finds that alcohol consumption may have counteractive effects on cardiovascular disease risk, depending on the biological presence of certain circulating metabolites—molecules that are produced during or after a substance is metabolized and studied as biomarkers of many diseases.

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Stay informed! Keep up with the latest research on the COVID-19 virus in the Coronavirus channel on Newswise.

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Tens of millions of Americans are addicted to illicit drugs, alcohol, tobacco and other substances including opioids, with both immediate and long-term harm to not just themselves, but also family, friends and society.

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A study showed that patient pain scores were a good predictor for opioid use, but younger patients and those who hadn’t used opioids before were less likely to take them

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New research shows promise in treating addiction cravings by combining eye movements and guided instructions to process memories. Researchers transformed dysfunctional memories stored in the brain through processing and integration.

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Researchers found that when states implement medical cannabis laws, there is a 0.5 to 1.5 percentage point decrease in regular to frequent (up to or greater than once per week on average) nonmedical prescription opioid use among people who reported using opioids in the previous year.

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Among cancer patients, psychological distress and accessibility of opioids often lead to chemical coping, a middle ground between addiction and proper adherence to a medication regimen.

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A UC San Diego Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science study reveals that online shopping for tobacco products increased the months following the California flavored tobacco ban and identified potential loopholes in tobacco control policies on e-commerce sales.

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Artificially causing – or inducing – labor is becoming increasingly common, yet this practice comes with risks and its level of success is difficult to foresee. But now, new research may offer a way to help predict outcomes and improve the process.Researchers at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) have devised a non-invasive method of accurately measuring the electrical activity of uterine muscles.

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The rate of opioid use among pregnant women in the United States quadrupled between 1999 and 2014 and continues to rise — an alarming trend that researchers from the University of Missouri and University of Iowa say has exposed the stigma felt by opioid-dependent mothers and how their shame has negatively impacted the health care received by their infants.

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A Mount Sinai-led team of researchers has shed new light on the ways in which cocaine addiction dysregulates the normal function of dopamine neurons and thus the brain’s ability to process and respond to reward-related information, making it more difficult for individuals to change their addictive behaviors.

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Highly vulnerable patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD) or substance use disorder (SUD) who received regular assessments after their initial intervention had substantially better outcomes a year later than those who did not receive the same follow-up, according to a new study. Fewer than one in ten people with SUD receive any form of treatment in a given year; among those who do, relapse and treatment reentry are common. A Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) protocol is intended to facilitate treatment referrals, especially among patients with more severe SUDs, but research has shown it to be relatively ineffective in that regard. Adding a Recovery Management Checkup (RMC) intervention can improve treatment rates; RMC conceptualizes AUD and SUD as chronic conditions requiring longer-term monitoring via regular check-ins, early re-intervention in cases of relapse, and treatment retention strategies. For the study in Alcohol: Clinical & Experimental Resear

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Adults aged 60 and older reported better overall health and quality of life after treatment for their alcohol use disorder, according to a new study published in Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research.

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Although people with opioid use disorder (OUD) are significantly more likely to overdose or have a complication after major surgery than those without the disorder, using medications for the treatment of OUD before surgery may eliminate that extra risk, suggests a large, first-of-its-kind study presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY® 2023 annual meeting.

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Researchers from the United States, Brazil, and Spain, including scientists with the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, published an analysis in a special edition of the British Medical Journal with a timely and controversial recommendation: It’s time for an international shift in the way we think about ultra-processed food.

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With the explosion of online platforms and advertising, the scourge of gambling is a growing problem affecting people of all ages.

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The past decade has seen a significant increase in marijuana use among U.S. college students. This increase has coincided with notable changes in national and local cannabis laws and policies, and perceptions of the associated drug’s risk over the same period.

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Certain characteristics of people seeking remission from alcohol use disorder (AUD) are linked to their choice of recovery meeting, a new study suggests. Informal peer recovery groups—mutual-help organizations—play a crucial role for many individuals with AUD or other drug disorders. Such groups are proliferating and differ substantially in approach.

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Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have used single-cell sequencing to identify a potential new treatment for cocaine addiction and shed new light on the molecular underpinnings of addiction.

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Dolores Cimini, a licensed psychologist and director of the Center for Behavioral Health Promotion and Applied Research at the University at Albany and senior research scientist in the Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology.

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Below are some of the latest headlines in the Women's Health channel on Newswise.

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A conversation can be the catalyst for someone struggling with addiction to get the care they need. But tread carefully. Two Penn State Health experts discuss a difficult conversation.

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Research has revealed for the first time the extent gambling messages saturate UK media coverage and social media during the opening weekend of the English Premier League football season.

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Pregnant women with a history of substance abuse face a dramatically increased risk of death from heart attack and stroke during childbirth when compared with women without history of substance abuse, a new Smidt Heart Institute study shows.

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Up to one in four young adults use alcohol and marijuana simultaneously (i.e., use at the same time with overlapping effects), a behavior linked to a greater risk of adverse consequences. Given the expanding legalization of non-medical marijuana use, there is an urgent need to better understand the effects of simultaneous use and who is most vulnerable to adverse outcomes.

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It’s a therapy that’s commonly used to help overcome addiction or substance abuse, but motivational interviewing could improve the health and wellbeing of frontline aged care workers, according to new research by the University of South Australia.

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New UCLA-led research has found that the proportion of US overdose deaths involving both fentanyl and stimulants has increased more than 50-fold since 2010, from 0.6% (235 deaths) in 2010 to 32.3% (34,429 deaths) in 2021. This rise in constitutes the ‘fourth wave’ in the US’s long-running opioid overdose crisis

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Heavy alcohol consumption is associated with acute and repeated episodes of pancreatitis, an inflammatory condition that can cause severe abdominal pain and death.

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That CBD product might be legal, but is it safe to use with other medicine? Two Penn State Health experts agree ― talk it over with your provider.

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Does drinking an excessive amount of alcohol increase the amount of fat deposits in the body? The answer is yes according to new findings from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA).

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Regardless of race, age, geography or urbanization, drug overdose deaths in the U.S. more than quadrupled from 1999 to 2020, causing 1,013,852 deaths. The rates increased 4.4 times from 6.9 per 100,000 in 1999 to 30 per 100,000 in 2020.

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Researchers have received a U.S. patent for a novel method to identify therapeutic agents to treat addiction. The invention, related to the fields of pharmacology, medicine, neurology and psychiatry, targets the protein MBLAC1, which the Blakely lab identified as the mammalian form of a gene the group first identified in worms as a modifier of signaling by the neurotransmitter dopamine.