Feature Channels: Drugs and Drug Abuse

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Smoking cannabis significantly impairs vision but many users are unaware of it

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University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) researchers have shown that psilocybin—the active chemical in “magic mushrooms”— still works its antidepressant-like actions, at least in mice, even when the psychedelic experience is blocked.

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Register for online access to cutting-edge science at Experimental Biology 2021, April 27–30

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Exposure in the womb to a drug used to prevent miscarriage appears to raise the offspring’s cancer risk decades later, especially for colorectal and prostate cancers, researchers have found. They will present the results of their new study Tuesday at ENDO 2021, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting.

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Researchers at Penn Medicine used machine learning-aided analysis to uncover top positive and negative themes in patient Yelp reviews of substance use treatment facilities

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The legalization of cannabis and the arrival of nonmedical fentanyl are fundamentally changing drug markets in North America.

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Broadening the definition of self-inflicted mortality to encompass most drug overdose deaths, WVU emeritus professor Ian Rockett led a study finding that the entire nation is afflicted by a mental health crisis. In recent years, western states have reported more suicides but Rockett’s research revealed that many drug overdose deaths in non-western states should have been classified as suicides.

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Findings may have implications for tackling opioid misuse

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People who take opioid medications for chronic pain may have a hard time finding a new primary care clinic that will take them on as a patient if they need one, according to a new “secret shopper” study of hundreds of clinics across the country.

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A pain management regimen comprised mostly of over-the-counter medication reduced opioid exposure in trauma patients while achieving equal levels of pain control, according to a new study by physician-researchers at UTHealth.

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New research into opioid overdoses that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted new disparities along racial lines that are likely fueled by existing inequality

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DALLAS – Jan. 13, 2021 – A new treatment that combines two existing medications may provide long-sought relief for many battling debilitating methamphetamine use disorder, according to a study to be published tomorrow in The New England Journal of Medicine.

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The Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts (FORE) today announced the establishment of its Scientific Advisory Council to provide program-related guidance to assist the Foundation in addressing the nation’s opioid crisis.

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More than half of people who use medical marijuana products to ease pain also experience clusters of multiple withdrawal symptoms when they’re between uses, a new study finds. And about 10% of the patients taking part in the study experienced worsening changes to their sleep, mood, mental state, energy and appetite over the next two years as they continued to use cannabis.

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DHS S&T is working with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) on a multi-phase study to improve detection of synthetic opioids.

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Researchers at Rush University Medical Center have found that opioid use might increase a person's risk of developing pancreatic cancer.

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A single positive experience on a psychedelic drug may help reduce stress, depression and anxiety symptoms in Black, Indigenous and people of color whose encounters with racism have had lasting harm, a new study suggests.

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New research suggests that cannabis use by people in care for opioid addiction might improve their treatment outcomes and reduce their risk of being exposed to fentanyl in the contaminated unregulated drug supply.

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A new report from researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health offers recommendations aimed at federal, state, and local policymakers to address the opioid epidemic during the pandemic.

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The COVID-19 pandemic is seriously affecting the sleep habits of half of those surveyed in a new study from The Royal and the University of Ottawa, leading to further stress and anxiety plus further dependence on sleep medication.

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The opioid epidemic has only gotten worse since the advent of COVID-19, with some areas in the U.S. reporting a 50% increase in drug overdoses due to the pandemic. With no end in sight to this public health crisis, scientific sessions during the virtual 2020 AACC Annual Scientific Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo will highlight the integral role of clinical laboratories in efforts to manage it, as well as the latest drug tests needed to do so.

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Cocaine continues to be one of the most commonly abused illicit drugs in the United States. Pre-clinical literature suggests that targeting glucagon-like peptide-1 receptors (GLP-1Rs) in the brain may represent a novel approach to treating cocaine use disorder. Specifically, GLP-1R agonists, which are FDA-approved for treating diabetes and obesity, have been shown to reduce voluntary drug taking and seeking in preclinical models of cocaine used disorder. However, the exact neural circuits and cell types that mediate the suppressive effects of GLP-1R agonists on cocaine-seeking behavior are mostly unknown.

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Research from Saint Louis University finds that among patients at risk for opioid misuse, the odds of receiving a schedule II opioid for non-cancer pain were similar to those not at risk, despite new prescribing guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

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Giving nurse practitioners the authority to prescribe buprenorphine has brought that gold standard treatment for opioid addiction to people who might not have had access to it before, according to a new study led by Tracy Klein, PhD, associate professor at the Washington State University College of Nursing in Vancouver.

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New research shows that over the past 50 years street cannabis across the world has become substantially stronger carrying an increased risk of harm.

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A Rutgers expert discusses the many impacts of COVID-19 on people with substance use disorder and what treatment providers, policymakers and researchers are doing to help.

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An epidemic that was already raging before COVID-19 arrived has flared up in recent months, according to a real-time tracking system in Michigan. It shows a 15 percent rise in suspected opioid overdose deaths since March, compared with the same time last year, and a 29% rise in first responders’ use of the rescue drug naloxone.

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Nearly one-third of students who reported misusing prescription opioids as high school seniors between 1997 and 2000, but did not have a history of medical use, later used heroin by age 35, according to a University of Michigan study.

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Almost 20 years into the opioid epidemic, there finally is evidence of significant and continual decreases in the abuse of these risky pain medications, according to an analysis of national data being presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY® 2020 annual meeting.

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College students with physical and cognitive disabilities use illicit drugs more, and have a higher prevalence of drug use disorder, than their non-disabled peers, according to a Rutgers study.

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Opioid use disorder and overdose have reached unprecedented levels around the world. In the United States, remediation of pain is one of the most common reasons American adults seek healthcare. Therefore, it is vital that clinicians practicing in diverse roles and settings have a clinical understanding of pain and substance use disorders as well as knowledge about public health and opioid policy interventions.

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The slight decline in drug overdose deaths in 2018 coincides with Chinese regulations on the powerful opioid carfentanil, rather than the result of domestic U.S. efforts to curb the opioid epidemic, a University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health analysis revealed today.

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The University of Texas at El Paso’s Minority AIDS Research Center (MARC) is the subrecipient of a $1 million implementation grant to target substance use disorders and opioid use disorders in five rural counties along the Texas-Mexico border.

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Abandoned Buildings, Fear of Calling Police Contribute to High Rate of Fatal Overdoses in Philadelphia, New Study Shows

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The United States has seen a 200% increase in the rate of deaths by opioid overdose in the last 20 years. But many of these deaths were preventable. Naloxone, also called Narcan, is a prescription drug that reverses opioid overdoses, and in more than 40 states — including Pennsylvania — there is a standing order policy, which makes it available to anyone, without an individual prescription from a healthcare provider.

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Luis M. Tuesta, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, has been awarded the Avenir Award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the National Institutes of Health, to study the epigenetic mechanisms of microglial activation and their role in shaping the behavioral course of opioid use disorder.

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While acetaminophen is helping you deal with your headache, it may also be making you more willing to take risks, a new study suggests. People who took acetaminophen rated activities like “bungee jumping off a tall bridge” as less risky than people who took a placebo.

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To better understand the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on cannabis and CBD use, the UCLA Cannabis Research Initiative has launched the Cannabis, CBD and COVID Survey.

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As you drift into unconsciousness before a surgery, general anesthetic drugs flowing through your blood are putting you to sleep by binding mainly to a protein in the brain called the ɣ-aminobutyric acid type A (GABAA) receptor. Now UT Southwestern scientists have shown exactly how anesthetics attach to the GABAA receptor and alter its three-dimensional structure, and how the brain can tell the difference between anesthetics and the psychoactive drugs known as benzodiazepines – which also bind to the GABAA receptor. The findings were published online today in the journal Nature.

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In a study, a team of Penn State researchers report that an algorithm they developed may be able to spot illicit online pharmacies that could be providing customers with substandard medications without their knowledge, among other potential problems.

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People have traded in nightclubs and dance festivals for virtual raves and Zoom happy hours as a result of lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic—yet, many are using drugs in these socially distanced settings, according to a new study by researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and the Center for Drug Use and HIV/HCV Research at NYU School of Global Public Health.

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In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, opioid misuse and addiction continue to devastate communities around the US.

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FACULTY Q&ABoth fatal and nonfatal overdoses have increased this year compared to last, according to a recent report by the Overdose Data Mapping Application Program. And, anecdotal information suggests that compared to last year, people in recovery are relapsing at alarming rates.Faculty from the University of Michigan School of Nursing’s Center for the Study of Drugs, Alcohol, Smoking and Health discuss why the pandemic has hit people with substance abuse problems especially hard and the expanded role of virtual recovery programs.

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Mizuho OSI®, a leading manufacturer of specialty surgical tables and pressure injury abatement solutions would like to announce the publication of a new clinical study titled “23-hour Total Hip Replacement Requiring Only 3.5 Opioid Pills Through 6 Weeks: A Non-selected Prospective Consecutive One Year Cohort”, by Andrew Wickline MD, now appearing in the peer-reviewed Journal of Orthopedic Experience & Innovation (JournalOEI)

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A recent study from IUPUI found risk factors for substance use disorder affect age groups differently and proposes a primary prevention strategy for substance use disorder that is individualized for people within defined age groups.