Drug Abuse News and Research

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First large-scale study to address treatment of prescription opioid addiction

Individuals addicted to prescription painkillers are more likely to succeed in treatment with the aid of the medication buprenorphine-naloxone (Suboxone), report McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School researchers in today's online edition of the Archives of General Psychiatry.

8 Nov 2011

Smoking primes the brain for cocaine addiction: Study

The study comes from the National Institute on Drug Abuse in Maryland that is the first of its kind to show how nicotine can change the brain in a way that enhances the behavioral effects of cocaine. It could help explain why so many drug-using teenagers tend to start with cigarettes and alcohol before moving on to more illegal substances.

7 Nov 2011

Chemical breakthrough could simplify drug development process

A new chemical process developed by a team of Harvard researchers greatly increases the utility of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) in creating real-time 3-D images of chemical process occurring inside the human body.

5 Nov 2011

Escitalopram reduces pain severity, interference in opioid-dependent patients

In what is believed to be the first study of its kind to demonstrate an association between the antidepressant escitalopram and improved general pain, researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM), have found that opioid-dependent patients treated with escitalopram experienced meaningful reductions in pain severity and pain interference during the first three months of therapy.

4 Nov 2011

Novel indirect screener can identify women at risk for illicit drug use

A team of researchers at Wayne State University's Parent Health Lab in the School of Medicine have developed a novel indirect screener that identifies women at risk for drug use by evaluating correlates of illicit drug use rather than drug use itself. In phase I testing, this new screener proved to be more sensitive than any alternative approach at detecting recent drug use.

3 Nov 2011

Nicotine might prime the brain to enhance behavioral effects of cocaine

A landmark study in mice identifies a biological mechanism that could help explain how tobacco products could act as gateway drugs, increasing a person's future likelihood of abusing cocaine and perhaps other drugs as well, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health. The study is the first to show that nicotine might prime the brain to enhance the behavioral effects of cocaine.

3 Nov 2011

Americans overdosing on prescription pain killers

According to figures released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 40 Americans die from prescription painkiller abuse each day. Overdoses of opioid prescription drugs now kill more people in the U.S. than do overdoses from heroin and cocaine combined the report says. Twelve million Americans say they abused prescription drugs in the last year.

2 Nov 2011

Restoration of dopamine levels could potentially prevent drug abuse

Portuguese researchers have discovered that rats exposed before birth to glucocorticoids not only show several brain abnormalities similar to those found in addicts, but become themselves susceptible to addiction (the glucorticoids, which are stress hormones, were used to mimic pre-natal stress).

1 Nov 2011

Hercules Pharma granted rights to license 22nd Century's X-22 smoking cessation aid

22nd Century Group, Inc., a company focused on smoking cessation and tobacco harm reduction products, announced today that the company licensed Hercules Pharmaceuticals LLC, its wholly-owned pharmaceutical subsidiary, exclusive worldwide rights to X-22.

31 Oct 2011

Scientists pinpoint brain circuitry linked to decision-making

What drives addicts to repeatedly choose drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, overeating, gambling or kleptomania, despite the risks involved? Neuroscientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have pinpointed the exact locations in the brain where calculations are made that can result in addictive and compulsive behavior.

31 Oct 2011

NYUCN to study 'Test and Linkage to Care Among Injecting Drug Users Kenya'

New York University College of Nursing (NYUCN) received a five-year, $4,161,665.00 grant from the National Institute of Health's National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIH/NIDA) to research "Test and Linkage to Care Among Injecting Drug Users (TLC_IDU) Kenya."

29 Oct 2011

NIH awards NYUCN $7.56M grant to study HIV risk among heterosexuals

New York University College of Nursing (NYUCN) received a five-year, $7.56 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to evaluate the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of a peer-driven intervention to seek out heterosexuals at high risk for HIV in their communities, test them for HIV, and link them to care in a timely fashion if they are found to be HIV infected.

29 Oct 2011

WSU researcher to learn more about links between stress and drug use

A Wayne State University researcher is using a three-year, $1.55 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health to learn more about the links between stress and drug use by applying behavioral economics.

27 Oct 2011

Positive top line results from Shire's LDX phase III study on ADHD

Shire plc, the global specialty biopharmaceutical company, today presented positive top line results of the first European phase III study of once-daily lisdexamfetamine dimesylate (LDX) in children and adolescents aged 6 to 17 years with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.

22 Oct 2011

Acute HCV screening strategy for HIV-infected individuals

Researchers at The Miriam Hospital demonstrated a practical strategy for regularly screening HIV-infected patients for acute hepatitis C virus infection (HCV), a "silent epidemic" that is rising undetected in this population and can lead to serious health complications.

19 Oct 2011

Study examines effectiveness of counseling approach for substance abuse among African-Americans

A new study is the first to examine the effectiveness of a widely used counseling approach to treating substance abuse among African-Americans. The study found that African-American women were more likely than men to continue a counseling approach to treating substance abuse, but their substance-abuse issues continued.

18 Oct 2011

BGU substance abuse expert wins U.S. National Distinguished International Scientist Award

Prof. Richard Isralowitz, of Israel's Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU), recently received the U.S. National Distinguished International Scientist Award for his work as director of the Regional Alcohol and Drug Abuse Resources (RADAR) Center.

18 Oct 2011

Researchers control itch without dulling morphine's pain-killing effects

Itching is one of the most prevalent side effects of powerful, pain-killing drugs like morphine, oxycodone and other opioids. The opiate-associated itch is so common that even women who get epidurals for labor pain often complain of itching. For many years, scientists have scratched their own heads about why drugs that so effectively suppress pain also induce itch.

14 Oct 2011

AIT Laboratories introduces new suite of services for prescription compliance monitoring

Chronic pain affects an estimated 116 million adults in the U.S.—more than the number affected by heart disease, diabetes, and cancer combined, according to a recent report by the Institute of Medicine.

10 Oct 2011

Caffeine may predict risk of drug abuse

Parents of young caffeine consumers take heed: that high-calorie energy drink or soda might present more than just obesity risk. In fact, according to a double-blind, placebo-controlled study that examined responses to stimulants, an individual's subjective response to caffeine may predict how he or she will respond to other stimulant drugs, possibly reflecting differences in risk for abuse of other more serious drugs of abuse, such as amphetamine and cocaine.

10 Oct 2011