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Heroin is a very addictive chemical called diacetylmorphine. Heroin is a modified form of morphine, a highly abundant opium derived from the seedpods of the poppy plant.

Scientific statement defines the distinctive features of opioid-associated cardiac arrest

Out-of-hospital cardiac arrests triggered by opioid overdose are a significant cause of death among adults 25 to 64, according to a scientific statement from the American Heart Association, the nation's largest voluntary health organization focused on heart and brain health for all.

8 Mar 2021

Opioid supply-controlling policies may have unintended consequences, finds study

In response to the increase in opioid overdose deaths in the United States, many states have implemented supply-controlling and harm-reduction policy measures aimed at reducing those deaths.

17 Feb 2021

Experimental vaccine diminishes fatal respiratory effects of synthetic opioids

As the opioid epidemic raged on with an even greater force during COVID-19, the Scripps Research laboratory of chemist Kim Janda, PhD, has been working on new therapeutic interventions that may be able to prevent the bulk of deaths from opioid overdose.

4 Feb 2021

Active cannabis dispensaries linked to reduced opioid-related mortality rates

Counties with a greater number of cannabis dispensary storefronts experience reduced numbers of opioid-related deaths relative to other locales, a recent University of California, Davis, study has found.

29 Jan 2021

Trial results support efficacy of incentivizing vaccine adherence

As the United States struggles to control record-breaking increases in COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations, the roll-out of two approved vaccines offers tremendous hope for saving lives and curbing the pandemic.

22 Jan 2021

Are public health ads worth the price? Not if they’re all about fear

The public service announcement showed a mother finding her teenage son lifeless, juxtaposed with the sound of a ukulele and a woman singing, "That's how, how you OD'd on heroin."

19 Jan 2021

San Francisco wrestles with drug approach as death and chaos engulf Tenderloin

In early 2019, Tom Wolf posted a thank-you on Twitter to the cop who had arrested him the previous spring, when he was homeless and strung out in a doorway with 103 tiny bindles of heroin and cocaine in a plastic baggie at his feet.

7 Jan 2021

Scientists develop new vaccine to counter the effects of synthetic cannabinoids

Made in clandestine laboratories and sold widely across the United States, the diverse class of drugs known as synthetic cannabinoids presents a growing public health threat.

17 Dec 2020

Untangling the role of medical cannabis in surgical care

Medical cannabis was legalized in Colorado in 2000, but 20 years later, Camille Stewart, MD, isn't able to prescribe it to her patients. Nor is she able to dictate the dosage or frequency with which patients take the drug.

8 Dec 2020

New legal push aims to speed magic mushrooms to dying patients

Back in March, just as anxiety over COVID-19 began spreading across the U.S., Erinn Baldeschwiler of La Conner, Washington, found herself facing her own private dread.

24 Nov 2020

Polysubstance-involved opioid overdose deaths are more common among youth, study shows

Results of a new study show that opioid overdose deaths involving more than one substance (polysubstances) are more common than opioid-only overdose deaths among youth.

23 Nov 2020

Research finds one-third of students misusing prescription opioids tend to use heroin later

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.

21 Oct 2020

Study examines the pharmacogenomics of opioid addiction

In one of the first studies of its kind, a University of Cincinnati researcher is using a grant from the Ohio attorney general's office to research the pharmacogenomics of opioid addiction.

13 Oct 2020

Study: Cannabis seldom serves as substitute for non-medical opioids

A study published in the scientific journal Addiction suggests that, contrary to what some are claiming, people in the US may not be substituting cannabis for opioids.

8 Oct 2020

Study explores women's interest in long-acting injectable PrEP to prevent HIV

Oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a highly effective method of reducing risk for HIV, yet use of PrEP is uniformly low, especially among women.

22 Sep 2020

College students with physical and cognitive disabilities have greater risk for substance abuse

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.

21 Sep 2020

Nasal sprays are a known remedy for preventing opioid overdose deaths

Between 250 and 270 people die each year from heroin or opioid overdoses in Norway. In the EU, thousands die. European users now have a better option available for helping each other.

3 Sep 2020

Clinicians may have to look beyond opioids to tackle nation’s substance use epidemic

Overcoming the nation's opioid epidemic will require clinicians to look beyond opioids, new research from Oregon Health & Science University suggests.

28 Aug 2020

Study: UnityPhilly app can help fight America's opioid crisis

Equipped with naloxone and a smartphone app, community members can save lives in the fight against America's opioid crisis, according to a paper from researchers at Drexel University's Dornsife School of Public Health and colleagues published this week in The Lancet journal EClinicalMedicine.

6 Aug 2020

NICE guideline advises GPs to stop prescribing opioids for chronic pain

Published today, the first ever NICE guideline on the treatment of chronic pain has said that GPs should not prescribe opioids and other medicines like paracetamol to patients because they could be ‘harmful’ and cause addiction.

5 Aug 2020