Heroin News and Research

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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.

New editorial offers clarity on confusing drug and alcohol addiction terminology

A new editorial released this week offers clarity and structure on confusing drug and alcohol addiction terminology for prescribers, users and regulators. "Through a glass darkly: can we improve clarity about mechanism and aims of medications in drug and alcohol treatments?" is published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, the official journal of the British Association for Psychopharmacology, published by SAGE.

4 Feb 2012

Magic Mushroom’s compound may help in some mental disorders: Study

There has been little research on the mechanism of action of “magic mushrooms” on the brain. A growing number of studies suggested that perhaps the mushrooms' key ingredient could work magic for certain mental disorders. New research in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences sheds light on why one of the mushrooms' hallucinogenic chemical compounds, psilocybin, may hold promise for the treatment of depression.

24 Jan 2012

Now cannabis mouth spray to help ‘pot’ addicts quit

To help smokers quit there are nicotine patches and heroin users have methadone. However till date cannabis users have little choice except stop abruptly to quit. Cannabis withdrawal symptoms include severe insomnia, pot cravings and mood swings. “Although these are not life-threatening, they are significant enough to cause marked distress and lead people to go back to using the drug,” said lead researcher Jan Copeland.

10 Jan 2012

FDA notes shortage of ADHD medicines

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) drugs to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are in such short supply that hundreds of patients complain daily to the agency that they are unable to find a pharmacy with enough pills to fill their prescriptions.

2 Jan 2012

Powerful painkiller on its way to the market: Experts worry about addiction woes

Drug makers are on their way to a pure, more powerful version of the nation’s second most-abused medicine, which has addiction experts worried that it could spur a new wave of abuse. The new pills contain the highly addictive painkiller hydrocodone, packing up to 10 times the amount of the drug as existing medications such as Vicodin.

28 Dec 2011

Major metropolitan areas show variation in rates of drug-related ED visits

Major metropolitan areas show significant variation in the rates of emergency department (ED) visits involving illicit drugs.

16 Dec 2011

Naltrexone for problem gamblers

According to new practice guidelines Australian doctors treating gambling addicts now can consider prescribing an anti-heroin drug, naltrexone, to help problem gamblers control their impulses. Australia has one of the world’s highest rates of problem gamblers, with about 2.1 per cent of Australians experiencing some form of gambling problem.

22 Nov 2011

Drug abuse high in West Australian young men: Study

According to a drug expert almost one in 10 men under 30 years of age has regularly used stimulant drugs and West Australians are the worst offenders.

21 Nov 2011

Austerity measures in Europe may cause rise in drug-related HIV infections, report says

"Austerity measures brought in to tackle Europe's economic crisis may cause a rise in drug-related HIV infections as stretched health services struggle to cope, the E.U.'s narcotics agency said on Tuesday," Reuters reports.

17 Nov 2011

Greek health system suffers amid growing economic crisis

Reuters examines how a worsening economic crisis in Greece is affecting the country's health system, highlighting a 36 percent decrease in health spending by Greeks this year, according to the National School of Public Health, and an increase of more than 50 percent in new cases of HIV from the first five months of 2010 to the same period this year.

11 Nov 2011

Positive results from Alkermes VIVITROL addiction study

Alkermes plc today presented positive results from a long-term study of VIVITROL (naltrexone for extended-release injectable suspension) at the 24th Annual U.S. Psychiatric and Mental Health Congress in Las Vegas, NV.

10 Nov 2011

NIH announces results from first large scale study on treatment of prescription opioid addiction

People addicted to prescription painkillers reduce their opioid abuse when given sustained treatment with the medication buprenorphine plus naloxone (Suboxone), according to research published in yesterday's Archives of General Psychiatry and conducted by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health.

9 Nov 2011

First large-scale study to address treatment of prescription opioid addiction

Individuals addicted to prescription painkillers are more likely to succeed in treatment with the aid of the medication buprenorphine-naloxone (Suboxone), report McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School researchers in today's online edition of the Archives of General Psychiatry.

8 Nov 2011

Americans overdosing on prescription pain killers

According to figures released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 40 Americans die from prescription painkiller abuse each day. Overdoses of opioid prescription drugs now kill more people in the U.S. than do overdoses from heroin and cocaine combined the report says. Twelve million Americans say they abused prescription drugs in the last year.

2 Nov 2011

WSU researcher to learn more about links between stress and drug use

A Wayne State University researcher is using a three-year, $1.55 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health to learn more about the links between stress and drug use by applying behavioral economics.

27 Oct 2011

Research points to ineffective and incomplete drug education as factor in heroin initiation

Researchers found Chicago area suburban heroin users have little knowledge about the drug and its effects when they first use it, and they often substitute heroin after becoming addicted to prescription pain medications.

19 Oct 2011

Hydromorphone can be as effective as diacetylmorphine in treating heroin addiction

A clinical trial to test better treatment options for chronic heroin addiction is expected to begin in Vancouver at the end of this year. Led by researchers from Providence Health Care and the University of British Columbia, it's the only clinical trial of its kind in North America.

13 Oct 2011

Russian Foreign Minister says country's HIV/AIDS problem is being 'aggravated' by U.S., NATO refusal to eradicate poppy crops in Afghanistan

Speaking on Monday at a conference on communicable diseases in the eastern Europe and Central Asia region, where AIDS is a growing problem, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made Russia's case for poppy crop eradication by U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan asserting that the West "is aggravating the HIV/AIDS problem in Russia and the West by refusing to use its forces to destroy opium crops in Afghanistan," Reuters reports.

12 Oct 2011

Anti-obesity drug Contrave may get another chance to prove itself

With rise obesity around the world there should have been a number of drugs to combat it. The reality is different. There are no safe and effective drugs in the market at present.

22 Sep 2011

Drug overdose deaths surpass road traffic accident deaths in U.S.

According to newly released figures, drug-related deaths now outnumber traffic fatalities in the U.S., with the rise driven by an increase in prescription narcotic overdoses.

19 Sep 2011