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Cannabis leads microdosing trends among U.S. adults, study finds

Researchers from University of California San Diego have found that microdosing - taking very small amounts of psychoactive substances - is more common among U.S. adults than previously recognized, with cannabis leading by a wide margin.

4 May 2026

EVALI outbreak reshaped public perceptions of e-cigarette harm

Cigarettes are one of the deadliest products on the market – but the risks of alternatives are not always clearly understood.

4 May 2026

NIH awards $3.9 million grant to develop a non-opioid pain treatment

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has awarded a $3.9 million grant to a multi-institutional team led by scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute to develop a non-opioid pain therapeutic and advance it into a Phase 1 clinical trial.

4 May 2026

Finding new ways to mimic ketamine’s antidepressant effects

Weill Cornell Medicine investigators have "reverse engineered" ketamine's antidepressant effects to identify potential new strategies for treating depression.

4 May 2026

New Canadian guidelines streamline screening for high-risk drinking

An update to Canadian guidance on screening for high-risk drinking and alcohol use provides streamlined recommendations in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) that authors hope will make it easier for health care professionals to talk to patients about alcohol use.

4 May 2026

Semaglutide as a promising new treatment for alcohol use disorder

Research indicates semaglutide can significantly decrease alcohol consumption and cravings in individuals with comorbid obesity and alcohol use disorder.

4 May 2026

Academic burnout pushes Chinese adolescents toward excessive online gaming habits

Chinese researchers report that academic burnout can push adolescents towards excessive online gaming. Using a large-scale cross-sectional survey, the researchers assessed the associations among academic burnout, internet gaming, depressive symptoms, and attentional bias.

29 Apr 2026

Teen cannabis use alters brain development and raises addiction risk

A systematic review reveals adolescent cannabis use alters brain structure, elevates addiction risk, and impacts cognitive outcomes during critical development.

29 Apr 2026

TikTok chatter could help predict where the opioid crisis is heading next

A large-scale analysis of 569,581 TikTok comments found that opioid-related discussions may help track and forecast synthetic opioid overdose mortality in the US. Recovery, harm reduction, drug use, drug sourcing, and loss-related conversations provided near-real-time signals that improved 6-month forecasting accuracy.

28 Apr 2026

Stanford research shows group brain scan averages hide unique individual activity

Studying cognition by averaging data from many people's brain scans hides how individuals use their brains, new Stanford Medicine research has shown.

28 Apr 2026

Negative parenting behaviors linked to gaming disorder in children with ADHD

A new Children's Hospital of Philadelphia study examines the relationship between parenting factors and gaming disorder in young children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Findings from the study will be presented during the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) 2026 Meeting, taking place April 24-27 in Boston.

24 Apr 2026

U.S. dentists still prescribe opioids at higher rates globally

People getting their teeth pulled or drilled by dentists in the United States are still much more likely to get powerful opioid medications than dental patients in other developed countries or even the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, a new study finds.

23 Apr 2026

New fiber probe enables real-time monitoring of key biomarkers

A new fiber probe developed by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin delivers two major innovations in health monitoring to help both patients around the world and the clinicians who care for them.

22 Apr 2026

UCL study urges clinician vigilance when prescribing gabapentinoids for pain

People who take gabapentinoids, a medication prescribed increasingly frequently worldwide, particularly for chronic pain, face a much greater risk of drug poisoning if they are also taking another medication, finds a new study by University College London (UCL) researchers.

17 Apr 2026

US Medicaid data finds buprenorphine safe for long-term child development

Children born to mothers who used buprenorphine for opioid addiction during pregnancy do not have a greater risk of neurodevelopmental disorders, such as ADHD and autism, compared with children whose mothers took methadone, finds a large US study published by The BMJ today.

17 Apr 2026

Researchers use light-activated drugs to map the brain's internal painkillers

Placebo effects, in which patients experience relief without therapeutic treatment, increasingly have been considered as potentially powerful clinical treatments for ailments such as depression and pain. Yet the neurological mechanisms underlying such processes are not fully understood. Now, a multi-institutional team led by the University of California San Diego's Matthew Banghart, an associate professor in the School of Biological Sciences, has pinpointed the brain circuitry responsible for placebo pain relief.

17 Apr 2026

Academic stress weakens mental resilience and triggers a reliance on gaming

China's highly competitive education system is known for its strict evaluation, rigorous intensity, and academic pressure. A recent study has highlighted the growing problem of this academic pressure leading to burnout amongst Chinese adolescents, which is pushing them towards online gaming.

17 Apr 2026

Researchers prove magnetic seizures are comparable to ECT in clinical response

A landmark international clinical trial led by researchers at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and University of California San Diego School of Medicine, published in The Lancet Psychiatry, has found that magnetic seizure therapy (MST) is as effective as electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)-the current gold-standard treatment for severe, treatment-resistant depression-with significantly fewer cognitive side effects. The study is the first large-scale, randomized clinical trial to directly compare MST with ECT, marking an important step toward a new treatment option for patients.

16 Apr 2026

Study warns of rising teen dependency on AI companions

It's estimated that more than half of all of U.S. teens are regularly using companion chatbots powered by large language models and generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

13 Apr 2026

Targeting super-enhancer mechanisms offers new strategies for cancer therapy

Super-enhancers (SEs) are large clusters of transcriptional regulatory elements that drive oncogene expression, maintain malignancy, and create "transcriptional addiction" in cancer.

13 Apr 2026