Drug Abuse News and Research

RSS

Decline in teen marijuana use stalls - trends in cigarette and alcohol use continues to fall

There are signs that the ongoing decline in teen marijuana use in recent years has stalled; however the downward trend in cigarette and alcohol use continues, according to the 2008 Monitoring the Future (MTF) Survey. Results were announced today at a news conference.

11 Dec 2008

Routine testing with angiography following endovascular treatment of brain aneurysms found to carry very low risk of complication

A very low risk of complication is associated with a routine test that determines whether a brain aneurysm treated with endovascular coiling has started to recur, a study led by the University of Cincinnati Neuroscience Institute has shown.

18 Nov 2008

Crystal meth abuse linked to underage sex, smoking and drinking

Teens who have never done drugs, but engage in other risky behaviours such as drinking, smoking and being sexually active, are more likely to use crystal meth, medical researchers at the University of Alberta have concluded.

18 Nov 2008

LegitScript shuts down 500 no-prescription-required online pharmacies

LegitScript, an online pharmacy certification program, announced today that it has succeeded in getting nearly 500 "rogue" Internet pharmacy websites shut down.

18 Nov 2008

A link found between nicotine addiction and autism

Scientists have identified a relationship between two proteins in the brain that has links to both nicotine addiction and autism.

17 Nov 2008

Vigabatrin offers hope for treating relapse to methamphetamine abuse

A new study at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory suggests that vigabatrin (a.k.a. gamma vinyl-GABA, or GVG) blocks drug-seeking behavior in animals previously trained to associate methamphetamine with a particular environment.

16 Nov 2008

TheraQuest's IND for abuse deterrent strong opioid (TQ-1015) accepted by FDA

TheraQuest Biosciences, Inc. a development stage pain management company today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted its Investigational New Drug ("IND") application for TQ-1015, its abuse deterrent extended release strong opioid. TQ-1015 is being developed using Securel, TheraQuest's proprietary abuse deterrent technology.

13 Nov 2008

Hope for treating relapse to methamphetamine abuse

"Reinstatement of drug-seeking behavior after an extended period of abstinence is the number-one cause of drug-addiction relapse," said Brookhaven neuroanatomist Stephen Dewey, who led the research team. "This animal study suggests that vigabatrin could potentially prevent human methamphetamine addicts from relapsing."

13 Nov 2008

Protein can nurture or devastate brain cells, depending on its 'friends,' UT Southwestern researchers find

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have uncovered new insights into the "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" nature of a protein that stimulates stem-cell maturation in the brain but, paradoxically, can also lead to nerve-cell damage.

11 Nov 2008

Extended suboxone treatment substantially improves outcomes for opioid-addicted young adults

In the first clinical trial of a medication that was used for an extended time to treat opioid addiction in young adults, participants who received counseling and Suboxone (buprenorphine-naloxone) for 12 weeks had substantially better outcomes than those who received the standard treatment of short-term detoxification and counseling.

4 Nov 2008

Female American veterans suffer sexual trauma after Iraq and Afghanistan

According to preliminary research results from a new study, almost 15% of female American veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have experienced sexual trauma during their military service.

29 Oct 2008

Cracking the code of adolecent drug use

A University of Sydney researcher has won a grant to study how exposure to drugs during adolescence affects the brain and behaviour.

23 Oct 2008

Could brain abnormality predict drug addiction?

Scientists at The University of Nottingham are to use MRI technology to discover whether abnormalities in the decision-making part of the brain could make some people more likely to become addicted to drugs.

22 Oct 2008

Couples with children with ADHD at risk of higher divorce rates, shorter marriages

Parents of a child with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are nearly twice as likely to divorce by the time the child is 8 years old than parents of children without ADHD, the first study to look at this issue in depth has shown.

21 Oct 2008

Methamphetamine enters brain quickly and lingers

Using positron emission tomography (PET) to track tracer doses of methamphetamine in humans' brains, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory find that the addictive and long-lasting effects of this increasingly prevalent drug can be explained in part by its pharmacokinetics - the rate at which it enters and clears the brain, and its distribution.

13 Oct 2008

Don't ask, don't tell doesn't work in prenatal care

While obstetrical care providers are doing a good job working with their patients on smoking cessation, they are not doing as well on abuse of other substances that can harm a woman's unborn baby. A new study appearing in the September 2008 issue of the journal Patient Education and Counseling reports that patients don't volunteer information about substance abuse unless specifically queried.

30 Sep 2008

Genetic screening effective for initial HIV treatment

A major study from a team of researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College and Massachusetts General Hospital has found that a recent change to HIV-treatment guidelines recommending genetic screening is cost-effective under certain conditions. The new recommendation suggests conducting a genetic screening test prior to prescribing the drug abacavir, one of the preferred first-line drugs for the treatment for HIV-infected adults.

17 Sep 2008

Neuroscientists discover a critical early step of memory formation

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine report in the July issue of Neuron how nerve cells in the brain ensure that Arc, a protein critical for memory formation, is made instantly after nerve stimulation. Paradoxically, its manufacture involves two other proteins - including one linked to mental retardation - that typically prevent proteins from being made.

14 Sep 2008

Abuse of painkillers can predispose adolescents to lifelong addiction

No child aspires to a lifetime of addiction. But their brains might. In new research to appear online in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology today, Rockefeller University researchers reveal that adolescent brains exposed to the painkiller OxyContin can sustain lifelong and permanent changes in their reward system - changes that increase the drug's euphoric properties and make such adolescents more vulnerable to the drug's effects later in adulthood.

10 Sep 2008