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Watch: California pays drug users to stay clean

KFF Health News senior correspondent Angela Hart appeared on Spectrum News 1's "LA Times Today" last week to explain how California is trying to help hard-drug users kick their habit by paying them to stay clean.

13 Jun 2024

Is early YouTube exposure causing emotional and behavioral issues in kids?

A study in BMC Public Health reveals that young children's YouTube usage is linked to emotional and behavioral issues, with early exposure increasing the risk of these problems.

12 Jun 2024

Many young adults who began vaping as teens can’t shake the habit

G Kumar’s vaping addiction peaked in college at the University of Colorado, when flavored, disposable vapes were taking off.

12 Jun 2024

Study identifies functional sex differences in specialized pain-producing nerve cells

Research suggests that males and females differ in their experience of pain, but up until now, no one knew why.

10 Jun 2024

Clinical trial demonstrates efficacy of two-drug therapy for methamphetamine addiction

A clinical trial on a two-drug therapy for methamphetamine use disorder reduced use of the highly addictive drug for up to 12 weeks after initiation of treatment, UCLA-led research suggests.

10 Jun 2024

UCL research identifies brain changes in teens with internet addiction

Adolescents with an internet addiction undergo changes in the brain that could lead to addictive behavior and tendencies, finds a new study by UCL researchers.

6 Jun 2024

Flavor restrictions has the potential to reduce socioeconomic disparities in tobacco use

Restricting menthol flavor in cigarettes while making nicotine replacement therapy, such as a skin patch that can help ease withdrawal, more available and affordable has the potential to reduce socioeconomic disparities in tobacco use.

6 Jun 2024

How a low-nicotine cigarette policy could improve public health

A recent study in The Lancet Regional Health shows low-nicotine cigarettes significantly reduce daily cigarette use and increase smoke-free days, even when alternative nicotine delivery systems are available.

5 Jun 2024

Stanford study reveals link between adaptive myelination and drug addiction

Our brains, even in adulthood, continually adapt to what we do, strengthening or weakening neural pathways as we practice new skills or abandon old habits.

5 Jun 2024

California becomes latest state to try capping health care spending

California's Office of Health Care Affordability faces a herculean task in its plan to slow runaway health care spending.

5 Jun 2024

Mindfulness as medicine: A powerful tool for pain and addiction

Mindfulness training has made its way into school districts, self-help and health books, and workplaces. One day soon, it could also be widely offered as a "medicine" for some physical and mental health conditions.

31 May 2024

Survey: 82.7 million Americans impacted by overdose deaths

Losing a loved one to drug overdose has been a common experience for many Americans in recent years, crossing political and socioeconomic divides and boosting the perceived importance of the overdose crisis as a policy issue, according to a new survey led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

31 May 2024

Opioid receptors play unexpected role in gut nervous system development

Researchers at Rice University have revealed a previously unknown function of opioid receptors in the development of the enteric nervous system (ENS), often referred to as the "brain in the gut."

29 May 2024

Psychoactive drugs are having a moment. The FDA will soon weigh in.

Lori Tipton is among the growing number of people who say that MDMA, also known as ecstasy, saved their lives.

29 May 2024

People with disabilities more likely to experience pregnancy complications, report shows

People with disabilities account for 13% of all pregnancies in Ontario, but a new report shows that this population was more likely to experience pregnancy complications such as emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and preterm birth.

28 May 2024

Psilocybin use initiates hyperconnectivity in the brain linked to ego-modifying effects

A new study shows that the use of psilocybin, a compound found in the widely known "magic mushrooms," initiates a pattern of hyperconnectivity in the brain linked to the ego-modifying effects and feelings of oceanic boundlessness.

23 May 2024

Teens using cannabis have 11 times higher risk of developing psychotic disorders

A new study published in the journal Psychological Medicine estimates that teens using cannabis are at 11 times higher risk of developing a psychotic disorder compared to teens not using cannabis.

22 May 2024

Study shows dramatic increase in daily cannabis use in the United States

Many countries around the world are considering revising cannabis policies. A new study by a researcher at Carnegie Mellon University assessed cannabis use in the United States between 1979 and 2022, finding that a growing share of cannabis consumers report daily or near-daily use and that their numbers now exceed those of daily and near-daily alcohol drinkers. T

22 May 2024

California pays meth users to get sober

Here in the rugged foothills of California's Sierra Nevada, the streets aren't littered with needles and dealers aren't hustling drugs on the corner.

22 May 2024

New insights into health challenges and the risk factors driving metabolic syndromes

The latest findings from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021, published today in The Lancet, provide new insights into health challenges and the risk factors that are driving them.

17 May 2024