Drug Abuse News and Research

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Researchers identify 221 genes possibly related to addiction vulnerability

Scientists supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health, have for the first time identified genes that might increase a person's ability to abstain from smoking.

4 Apr 2007

Breakthrough research finds genes which may help smoking cessation

2 Apr 2007

Circadian genes may be involved in bipolar disorder

Disrupt the gene that regulates the biological clocks in mice and they become manic, exhibiting behaviors similar to humans with bipolar disorder, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have found.

25 Mar 2007

Warning about the indiscriminate use of diet drugs

The United Nations (UN) has issued a warning about the rise in a number of countries of the use of diet drugs to lose weight.

1 Mar 2007

Smoking produces biochemical changes in human brain

New research shows for the first time that smoking produces long-lasting biochemical changes in the human brain similar to those changes previously seen in the brains of animals that used cocaine, heroin, and other illicit drugs.

20 Feb 2007

Drug treatment seekers more likely to use needle exchange

A new study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health examined the connection between Baltimore City's needle exchange program and drug treatment programs.

18 Jan 2007

High dopamine transporter levels not linked to attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder

Results from a brain-imaging study conducted at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory in collaboration with Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York indicate that levels of a brain protein proposed as a diagnostic marker for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are not positively correlated with the disease.

2 Dec 2006

Ecstasy harmful to the brain even in small doses

Dutch researchers have found that even a small amount of ecstasy can be harmful to the brain.

29 Nov 2006

The lifetime cost of current HIV care in the United States

"The Lifetime Cost of Current HIV Care in the United States," a major study appearing in the November 2006 issue of Medical Care, projects the cost of treatment for HIV-infected adults using current standards of care.

1 Nov 2006

$74 million allocated to study environmental causes of disease

As part of the new Exposure Biology Program, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, a component of the National Institutes of Health, today announced $74 million in grant opportunities for the development of new technologies that will improve the measurement of environmental exposures that contribute to human disease.

19 Oct 2006

Cocaine addicts have an altered perception of reward

People addicted to cocaine have an impaired ability to perceive rewards and exercise control due to disruptions in the brain's reward and control circuits, according to a series of brain-mapping studies and neuropsychological tests conducted at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory.

16 Oct 2006

New guide to help countries prevent violence against children

The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a practical new guide to help countries prevent violence against children. Children are the victims of startling levels of violence, often at the hands of those who should be protecting them.

16 Oct 2006

Research implicates brain circuits involved in drug craving and emotional response to food

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have found new clues to how the brain and the stomach interact with emotions to cause overeating and obesity.

2 Oct 2006

New clues about virulence of 1918 influenza virus

The first comprehensive analysis of an animal's immune response to the 1918 influenza virus provides new insights into the killer flu, report federally supported scientists in an article appearing online in the journal Nature.

28 Sep 2006

Parents too often unaware of child's drug abuse

According to the latest research parents do not provide valuable information about their children's use of alcohol and drugs because they are often unaware of it; and this is true of even the most observant parents, with the most open family relationships who are often oblivious to their children's use and abuse of alcohol, cigarettes and drugs.

25 Sep 2006

NIH launches "Knockout Mouse Project"

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) today awarded a set of cooperative agreements, totaling up to $52 million over five years, to launch the Knockout Mouse Project.

7 Sep 2006

Prevention programs for teens can reduce methamphetamine abuse

New research supported in part by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), National Institutes of Health, shows that prevention programs conducted in middle school can reduce methamphetamine abuse among rural adolescents years later.

4 Sep 2006

Bipolar disorder costs twice as much in lost productivity as major depressive disorder

Bipolar disorder costs twice as much in lost productivity as major depressive disorder, a study funded by the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has found. Each U.S. worker with bipolar disorder averaged 65.5 lost workdays in a year, compared to 27.2 for major depression.

4 Sep 2006

Deadly duo of crime and drug abuse can be cut by effective treatments

According to a landmark scientific report released by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), money would be saved and crime would be reduced if communities put into place effective treatments for drug abuse and addiction.

26 Jul 2006

Increasing deaths from opioid analgesics in the United States

Trends analysis of drug poisoning deaths has helped explain a national epidemic of overdose deaths in the USA that began in the 1990s, concludes Leonard Paulozzi and colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

24 Jul 2006