The Latest News from Our Field

A website that tracks street prices for illicit prescription drugs allows law enforcement and academics to follow drug trends, according to The Denver Post.

A growing number of counterfeit drug manufacturers are using call centers in the Philippines to facilitate sales, The Wall Street Journal reports.

A new study finds 14 percent of American adults currently have an alcohol use disorder. Many have never been treated, Time reports. Thirty percent of those interviewed said they had an alcohol-related problem at some time in their lives.

Inmates who are addicted to opioid drugs who continue to receive methadone maintenance treatment in prison are more likely to continue treatment once they are released, according to a new study.

The three largest U.S. tobacco companies this week announced they will drop their lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration, after the agency said it would reconsider rules about the companies’ product labels.

Officials in Beijing, China said they will make public the names of people who repeatedly ignore the city’s tough new smoking ban. Smoking will be outlawed in public places, including restaurants, offices and public transportation, NBC News reports.

Top headlines of the week from Friday, May 29- Thursday, June 4, 2015.

As marijuana use and potency increases, the demand for treatment for cannabis use disorder is on the rise. Frances Levin, MD, Kennedy Leavy Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center, explains what treatments are available and who is seeking help for the disorder.

Volunteer sober groups are expanding at summer music festivals, The New York Times reports. These groups are expected at more than a dozen festivals this year.

Drug use among American workers appears to be increasing, based on the results of drug tests. Traces of drugs were found in 3.9 percent of urine tests conducted for employers last year, up from 3.7 percent in 2013, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Hospitals in some states, including New Mexico, Texas and Wyoming, have developed prescription painkiller tracking systems tailored to emergency rooms, NPR reports. The systems are designed to reduce prescription drug abuse.

The peak ages for starting to misuse prescription stimulants, such as drugs for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, are between 16 and 19, a new study finds. The researchers say education programs should start in middle school to keep more young people from starting to misuse prescription stimulants.

Presidential candidates are discussing drug abuse in campaign events in Iowa and New Hampshire, NPR reports.

Taking certain prescription drugs, including opioids and anti-anxiety drugs known as benzodiazepines, appears to be linked with an increased risk of committing homicide, a new study suggests.

Australian researchers have released the first-ever report on worldwide addiction statistics. They found about 240 million people around the world are dependent on alcohol, more than a billion people smoke, and about 15 million people use injection drugs, such as heroin.

The creator of the Silk Road website, Ross Ulbricht, was sentenced Friday to life in prison, NBC News reports. Silk Road sold illegal drugs including heroin, cocaine and LSD.

Federal employees were told this week that marijuana continues to be illegal for them, even though medical and recreational use of the drug is now legal in a growing number of states.

Using marijuana and alcohol together greatly increases the amount of THC, marijuana’s active ingredient, in the blood, a new study concludes. Using the two substances together raises THC levels much more than using marijuana by itself.

Law enforcement officials are increasingly concerned that China, with a large and poorly regulated drug manufacturing sector, is becoming a major producer of synthetic drugs such as Spice.

Graphic photographs on cigarette warning labels appear to be more effective than text warnings in convincing smokers to try to quit, a new study suggests.

Top headlines of the week from Friday, May 22- Thursday, May 28, 2015.

This spring, while the San Francisco Giants geared up another season, their local government hit a home run of its own. The Mayor of San Francisco signed a unanimous Board of Supervisors action last week, to ban smokeless tobacco on playing fields throughout the city.

The U.S. Supreme Court this week denied a request by the pharmaceutical industry to review a lawsuit over a drug take-back program in Alameda County, California. The program, which requires drug companies to pay for drug disposal, can now move forward.

As more babies are born to mothers who are addicted to prescription painkillers, the costs related to diagnosis and treatment of these infants are rising, according to a new report.

A federal appeals court has ruled that American tobacco companies do not have to tell consumers they lied about the dangers of smoking. The companies must say cigarettes were designed to increase addiction, according to the Associated Press.