Substance Abuse News and Research

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Twice-yearly injection could transform HIV prevention efforts

Preventative therapies for HIV-1 (Human Immunodeficiency Virus type 1) have made leaps and bounds over the past decade. A once-daily pill named PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, has been a stalwart for HIV prevention-but only if people take it consistently and can routinely access a pharmacy.

3 Jul 2025

Republican megabill will mean higher health costs for many Americans

President Donald Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" cuts federal spending on Medicaid and Affordable Care Act marketplaces by about $1 trillion over a decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, threatening the physical and financial health of tens of millions of Americans.

2 Jul 2025

Study reveals top reasons schools call emergency medical services

The three most common reasons schools called emergency medical services (EMS) were for neurological crises such as seizures, psychiatric conditions or substance abuse, and trauma related injuries, according to data from the national EMS registry analyzed by researchers from Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago.

2 Jul 2025

Health care employment rebounds after the pandemic but staffing gaps remain

The U.S. health care workforce has bounced back from the massive job losses of early 2020, with employment now matching pre-pandemic projections, according to new research from the University of Michigan.

15 Jun 2025

Difficult childhood experiences linked to increased risk of endometriosis later in life

A new study from Karolinska Institutet involving over a million women links difficult childhood experiences to the risk of being diagnosed with endometriosis later in life.

11 Jun 2025

Language service cutbacks raise fear of medical errors, misdiagnoses, deaths

Health nonprofits and medical interpreters warn that federal cuts have eliminated dozens of positions in California for community workers who help non-English speakers sign up for insurance coverage and navigate the health care system.

29 May 2025

Sudden cardiac death found to be a major risk among male bodybuilders

Sudden cardiac death is responsible for an unusually high proportion of deaths in male bodybuilders worldwide with the highest risk among professional bodybuilders, according to research published in the European Heart Journal today (Wednesday).

21 May 2025

3 things to watch on mental health in Trump’s early budget proposals

Since President Donald Trump released his 2026 budget blueprint in early May, calling for $163 billion in federal spending cuts, much of the attention has focused on his slashing of foreign aid and boosting of border security.

21 May 2025

New framework modernizes traumatic brain injury diagnosis after 50 years

Trauma centers nationwide will begin to test a new approach for assessing traumatic brain injury (TBI) that is expected to lead to more accurate diagnoses and more appropriate treatment and follow-up for patients.

21 May 2025

Study highlights the growing toll of parental substance use on American children

A large percentage of American children are growing up in households with at least one parent who uses alcohol or other drugs in problematic ways-raising the risk that those children will go on to do the same, a new study suggests.

13 May 2025

Study finds early sexual abuse common among male and female survivors

Nearly one out of five women and one out of seven men aged 20 and older globally faced sexual violence as a child, according to a study published in The Lancet today.

8 May 2025

Moms in crisis, jobs lost: The human cost of Trump’s addiction funding cuts

When the Trump administration cut more than $11 billion in covid-era funds to states in late March, addiction recovery programs suffered swift losses.

25 Apr 2025

Study: Psilocybin use surges across all age groups since 2019

Use of psilocybin, the hallucinogenic chemical found in what is known as "magic mushrooms," has increased significantly nationwide since 2019, according to a new study led by researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Safety.

21 Apr 2025

Economic downturns linked to shorter life expectancy for less-educated Americans

Fifty years of economic change have taken a heavy toll on some Americans, especially those with less education who not only have been left behind but are sicker and living shorter lives, according to new research.

18 Apr 2025

Lithium shifts circadian rhythms early in bipolar disorder and may offer clues to treatment response

A randomized controlled trial shows that lithium treatment in bipolar disorder patients reduces daytime activity, advances its onset time, and increases volatility in circadian rest-activity patterns. These changes appear early and independently of mood, offering promise as early biomarkers of treatment response.

14 Apr 2025

Mental health disorders more prevalent in people with criminal legal histories

A new national epidemiological survey provides a demographic and diagnostic picture of people living with mental ill health in prison, those with criminal legal involvement in the last year, and those with no criminal legal history in the last year-finding significantly higher rates of five mental health conditions in incarcerated individuals and individuals with recent criminal legal history.

9 Apr 2025

Hit hard by opioid crisis, Black patients further hurt by barriers to care

Purple flags, representing the nearly 300 Mecklenburg County residents who died of opioid overdose in 2023, fluttered in the humid breeze last August in recognition of International Overdose Awareness Day on the city’s predominantly Black west side.

2 Apr 2025

Survey shows increased awareness of alcohol’s cancer risks

Public awareness of the link between drinking alcohol and an elevated risk of cancer has grown since last fall, with more than half of Americans now saying that regularly consuming alcohol increases your chances of later developing cancer, according to a survey by the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) of the University of Pennsylvania.

1 Apr 2025

WHO introduces new guidance to strengthen mental health policies

The World Health Organization (WHO) today launched new guidance to help all countries reform and strengthen mental health policies and systems.

26 Mar 2025

Oklahoma researcher uses technology to combat alcohol use disorder in primary care

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in 7 adults in the United States will experience a substance use disorder during their lifetime. University of Oklahoma College of Medicine faculty member Brandi Fink, Ph.D., is working with primary care clinics and health care systems to identify people with an alcohol use disorder and intervene early before the problem worsens.

25 Mar 2025