An addict prepares heroin, placing a fentanyl test strip into the mixing container to check for contamination, Wednesday Aug. 22, 2018, in New York. If the strip registers a “pinkish” to red marker then the heroin is positive for contaminants. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews) The newest tool in the fight against opioid overdoses is an inexpensive […]
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A housing subsidy treatment that enables low-income families in US cities to move from public to private housing appears to reduce adolescent girls’ binge drinking but increase adolescent boys’ binge drinking. The reasons for these differential gender effects are not yet clear. Affordable housing policies are common in democratic nations, and the Housing Choice Voucher […]
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Addiction Policy Forum, a national substance abuse nonprofit, has added Connecticut-specific resources to its online database of treatment centers, facilities and healthcare providers. The Addiction Resource Center, which now has chapters in 26 states, is an interactive database where people can filter addiction services by their geographic and support needs, like type of insurance, medication […]
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A new therapeutic may help reverse chemical imbalances made to the brain by habitual drug use and could one day help recovering drug addicts avoid future drug use. Researchers from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston developed and tested a treatment on rats and found it effective in reducing the animals’ cravings. Their […]
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(HealthDay)—High school seniors hooked on heroin are likely to misuse a multitude of other drugs, a new study finds. “It may be inadequate to focus on heroin and opioid use in isolation,” said study author Joseph Palamar, an associate professor of population health at New York University School of Medicine in New York City. As […]
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In this May 7, 2018 photo, Lizabeth Loud, 32, works out at the FAF Gym in Holbrook, Mass. Loud says her month, when forced into treatment for her heroin and prescription painkiller addiction, was the start of a personal turnaround. She’s been sober about a year and a half. But critics, including many doctors, law […]
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For patients with substance use disorders seen in the emergency department or doctor’s office, locating and accessing appropriate treatment all too often poses difficult challenges. Healthcare providers and treatment facility administrators share their views on delays and obstacles to prompt receipt of substance use disorder treatment after referral in a study in the Journal of […]
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A team of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators has identified factors that may increase the risk of drug overdose in adolescents and young adults. In their report published online in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, the researchers describe finding that more than a quarter of those seeking treatment at Addiction Recovery Management Service, an MGH-based […]
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Credit: CC0 Public Domain SMS reminders sent to patients booked in to addiction treatment sessions significantly increase attendance rates, University of Queensland research has found. Dr. Matthew Gullo, from UQ’s Centre for Youth Substance Abuse Research, said the study was the first to evaluate the effectiveness of SMS appointment reminders for alcohol addiction treatment sessions. […]
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Credit: CC0 Public Domain None of us has the brain we were born with. Brains grow and adapt. This process, called neuroplasticity, doesn’t end when you step out of the classroom. Even habits—reaching for cookies when stressed out, keeping your head down during staff meetings—cut “trails” in the brain throughout life that can be hard […]
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Teenage girls who regularly binge drink may fail to reach their peak bone mass, according to a new study published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. The study, of 87 college women, found that those who regularly binge drank in high school had lower bone mass in the spine. That was true […]
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Credit: University of California, San Francisco A national clinical trial testing a smoking cessation intervention for young adults that was conducted entirely on Facebook has found that smokers are 2.5 times more likely to quit after three months with the Facebook-based treatment than if they were referred to an online quit-smoking program. It is the […]
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A new review published online today in the journal Addiction has compiled the best, most up-to-date source of information on alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drug use and the burden of death and disease. It shows that in 2015 alcohol and tobacco use between them cost the human population more than a quarter of a billion […]
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Far from the glitzy bank buildings and boutiques in Luxembourg city sits a run-down prefab building behind the railway station that shows another side to Europe’s richest country. The tiny grand duchy nestled between France, Belgium and Germany has for more than 10 years played host to a busy “shooting gallery” to give drug addicts […]
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Fear of dismissal or of losing their authorisation keeps medical doctors trapped in substance use disorders, and instead of seeking help they attempt self-treatment. This is shown by a new study from Aarhus University. It is just as difficult for an individual medical doctor to ask for help with his or her substance use disorder […]
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