Addiction News and Research

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Over 1 million years of life lost in Ohio from overdose deaths, shows study

The drug addiction epidemic continues to plague the country, and thousands of lives are cut short each year due to overdose.

18 Jul 2019

Marijuana isn’t a great choice for glaucoma treatment, says expert

Marijuana can help reduce the pressure inside the eye (IOP, or intraocular pressure). Being a euphoric drug, it is now a commonly used recreational and medicinal drug. In fact, its use ranks fourth among all substances, behind tobacco, alcohol and caffeine.

18 Jul 2019

Opioid overdose deaths on the decline says CDC but the real picture may still be grim

The opioid epidemic began in the 1990s with hundreds of deaths occurring each year due to overdose of these drugs of abuse. According to the Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC), for the first time in two decades, there has been a drop of 5 percent in the opioid overdose deaths in 2018.

17 Jul 2019

UTHealth researchers investigate how to reduce stress-driven alcohol use

Researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) are investigating if a medication used to regulate blood sugar can alter motivation to use alcohol by targeting the brain's stress response system.

17 Jul 2019

Addressing patients' mental and emotional distress after surgery

With the advancement of technology and medicine, G. Michael Deeb, M.D., a cardiac surgeon at Michigan Medicine, says society is used to, and expects, instant solutions to their pain after medical procedures. This has resulted in an increased demand for narcotics, as well as their over usage.

17 Jul 2019

New regulations on e-cigarettes may have unintended consequences

Efforts by the FDA and some cities to limit the availability and appeal of e-cigarettes to young users could drive some existing users to smoke more tobacco cigarettes to get their fix, according to new research from Duke Health.

15 Jul 2019

Patients taking opioids for chronic pain could face health care access problems

Finding a new doctor for health checkups and general care can pose a challenge to anyone. But for people who take prescription opioid pills for their chronic pain, it might be far harder, according to a new study.

14 Jul 2019

Researchers analyze link between videogame addiction and school inadaptation

A team of researchers from the departments of Medicine and Education Sciences of the CEU Cardenal Herrera University in Castellón (Spain) has analyzed the relation between the addiction to videogames and school inadaptation in a group of teenagers in the province.

12 Jul 2019

Patients treated with NSAIDs use less opioids

Patients receiving a post-surgery prescription of ibuprofen with a rescue prescription of Percocet used less opioids than a group of similar patients who were prescribed just Percocet.

12 Jul 2019

Biden calling ACA ‘breakthrough’ for mental health parity highlights gaps

In a sit-down interview with CNN, 2020 Democratic presidential primary candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden touted the Obama administration's passage of the Affordable Care Act, asserting that this law evened out the playing field when it came to insurance coverage of mental and physical health.

11 Jul 2019

Effective stop smoking treatments less likely to be prescribed to people with mental health conditions

A new study from researchers at the Universities of Bath and Bristol suggests that doctors should rethink which drugs they prescribe to help smokers with mental health conditions kick the habit.

11 Jul 2019

Medicare going in ‘right direction’ on opioid epidemic

Prescriptions for two drugs used to treat opioid addiction increased significantly from 2016 to 2018 for people on Medicare, according to a federal report out Wednesday.

10 Jul 2019

UM scientists receive $3.3 million NIH contract to develop opioid addiction vaccine

The University of Montana has received a $3.3 million contract from the National Institutes of Health to develop an innovative vaccine targeting opioid addiction.

10 Jul 2019

Herbal supplement used to treat addiction and pain is not safe, research says

The herb kratom is increasingly being used to manage pain and treat opioid addiction, but it's not safe to use as an herbal supplement, according to new research led by faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York.

9 Jul 2019

People use executive control processes to ignore cues that signal something rewarding

Have you ever tried to stay away from fast food, but found hard-to-ignore signals that represent its availability - like neon lights and ads - are everywhere?

9 Jul 2019

Study: One in five university students affected by problematic smartphone use

A survey of more than 3,400 university students in the USA has found that one in five respondents reported problematic smartphone use.

8 Jul 2019

Sobering up: In an alcohol-soaked nation, more seek booze-free social spaces

Not far from the Anheuser-Busch brewery, Joshua Grigaitis fills a cooler with bottles and cans in one of the city's oldest bars.

8 Jul 2019

Study finds alarmingly high rate of opioid prescriptions for osteoarthritis patients

Opioids work against severe pain but the risks of side effects and addiction are high. In the USA alone, 26 people die every day from overdoses.

8 Jul 2019

Role of hospital and health-system pharmacists in drug therapy monitoring

As hospitals look for ways to stem the opioid crisis, a survey of health-system pharmacy directors released today found that most large health systems have active stewardship programs to prevent the misuse of opioids -- with pharmacists playing a key role in detecting drug diversion and identifying strategies to encourage appropriate opioid prescribing.

4 Jul 2019

Excess grey matter in the brain can predict escalating drinking behavior in teens

Teenagers with large amounts of grey matter in the brain at age 14 are more likely to increase their alcohol use over the next five years, according to a whole brain imaging study reported today in eLife.

2 Jul 2019