The Latest News from Our Field

Men who drink heavily in middle age experience a faster, steeper decrease in memory and thinking skills 10 years later, compared with men who drink less or don’t drink, a new study concludes.

Top headlines of the week from Friday, January 10- Thursday, January 16, 2014.

With nearly half of state prescription monitoring programs (PMPs) sharing data via the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy® PMP InterConnect® program, the system is successfully helping states in their efforts to protect patient health and lower rates of prescription drug abuse and diversion.

Entrepreneurs are moving forward with new business strategies as legal sales of recreational marijuana get underway in Colorado, CNBC reports. Washington state will begin selling marijuana later this year.

The Treasury Department is compiling a list of all alcoholic beverages sold in stores and online, to determine which ones it needs to test. The department wants to ensure the products’ labels do not mislead consumers, according to The New York Times.

Deaths from heroin and prescription drugs more than doubled last year at the Jersey Shore, a locale well known as a vacation destination. Three people in Ocean County, New Jersey have already died in 2014 from drug overdoses, according to NBC News.

A new campaign in Colorado, to be unveiled Wednesday, aims to reduce prescription drug abuse among teens, The Denver Post reports.

Primary care doctors can discover whether patients are abusing drugs or alcohol by asking a single question, a new study finds.

Tobacco companies and the federal government reached an agreement on publishing statements about the dangers of smoking, the Associated Press reports. The “corrective statements” will say the companies lied about the health effects of cigarettes.

A new study suggests a connection between misuse of prescription drugs and incidents of dating violence.

An arbitration panel has ruled that Major League Baseball can ban New York Yankees player Alex Rodriguez for the entire 2014 season, Bloomberg reports. Rodriguez was suspended for violating the league’s antidoping rules.

Top headlines of the week from Friday, January 3- Thursday, January 9, 2014.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday he will allow some patients with serious illnesses to have access to medical marijuana.

Smokers who try to quit using the drugs varenicline (Chantix) and bupropion (Wellbutrin) together are more successful in the short term than those who use Chantix alone, a new study finds.

Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin on Wednesday said the state is suffering from a “full-blown heroin crisis,” The New York Times reports. In his State of the State Message, Governor Shumlin said he wants officials to respond to addiction as a chronic disease.

Ohio is launching a new initiative to encourage parents to speak with their children about the dangers of drug abuse. The increased use of prescription painkillers and heroin has led to a surge in drug overdoses in the state, the Associated Press reports.

Helping patients with substance use disorders manage their other health problems can assist them in their recovery, says Sharone Abramowitz, MD, co-chair of the recent California Society of Addiction Medicine conference. She notes addiction medicine professionals often ignore patients’ other chronic health conditions.

Only one in six American adults say their doctor or other health professional has ever asked them about their alcohol use, according to a new survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Eight million Americans have been saved from dying prematurely of smoking-related causes in the 50 years since the first Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health was issued 50 years ago, according to a new report.

People with severe mental illness have significantly higher rates of drinking, drug use and smoking, compared with the general population, a new study finds.

Brain scientists are debating whether marijuana could be a useful treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, NPR reports.

Addiction treatment centers in Colorado are bracing for an increase in teens referred for marijuana use, ABC News reports. The state began legal sales of recreational marijuana for adults last week.

Legal sales of recreational marijuana began in Colorado on Wednesday. Hundreds of state residents, as well as tourists from around the country, lined up before dawn to purchase state-regulated marijuana, The New York Times reports.

Researchers are making progress in the search for medicines to treat addiction, according to The Wall Street Journal. They are learning more about how heavy drug and alcohol use affects the brain.

Medicaid patients in southern and Midwestern states are less likely than those in other parts of the country to have access to outpatient addiction treatment, according to a new study.