The Latest News from Our Field

Tobacco manufacturers are raising the prospect of costly, long legal battles against antismoking laws in developing nations, according to The New York Times. The industry is telling these countries their tobacco laws violate trade and investment treaties.

A series of online courses is being offered to help behavioral health providers prepare their organizations to expand in 2014, as part of the Affordable Care Act.

The attorneys general from 28 states are asking the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to reassess its decision to approve Zohydro ER (extended release), a pure form of the painkiller hydrocodone. Earlier this month, four U.S. senators told the FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg they disagree with the agency’s decision to approve the drug.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced its plans to provide $50 million to expand treatment for substance use disorders and mental health. The funds will be used to hire staff, add services and employ team-based models of care.

Children whose mothers drank during pregnancy are more likely to have problems with social skills, compared with their peers whose mothers did not drink while pregnant, according to a new study.

A bill to legalize, tax and regulate the sale of marijuana to adults in New York state was introduced this week by three state legislators.

States with stronger alcohol control policies have lower rates of binge drinking than states with weaker policies, a new study concludes.

A new study finds smokers who are addicted to methamphetamine or cocaine can stop smoking while they are being treated for their addiction to stimulants, without adversely impacting their addiction treatment.

A new analysis of previous studies involving more than 30,500 smokers concludes smoking cessation therapies do not increase the risk of heart attack or stroke. The study included nicotine patches and gums, as well as the medications bupropion and varenicline.

The Uruguay Senate has voted to legalize marijuana, The Wall Street Journal reports. The law, approved Tuesday, puts the government of the South American nation in control of the distribution and sale of marijuana.

New Legacy President applauds New York, where the minimum age for buying cigarettes has just been increased from 18 to 21, making tobacco products a lot harder for young people to purchase.

The American College of Physicians, one of the nation’s largest medical groups, has released a set of recommendations about how doctors can help reduce prescription drug abuse.

Alaska and North Dakota are the only states that will meet 2014 recommendations by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for spending on programs to prevent youth from starting to smoke, and helping current smokers quit, according to a new report by advocacy groups.

Pregnant women who smoke marijuana may increase their risk of stillbirth three-fold, a new study concludes.

An analysis of almost 400 top-grossing movies from 1985 to 2010 shows about 90 percent included at least one moment of violence involving a main character. In 77 percent of those movies, the main character also smoked tobacco or drank alcohol or engaged in sexual behavior, HealthDay reports.

A new study dispels the myth that the most frequent users of hospital emergency rooms are people with mental illness and substance use disorders. This population accounts for only a small percentage of visits, the researchers found.

Four U.S. senators told the Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration they disagree with the agency’s decision to approve a pure version of the painkiller hydrocodone, Newsday reports.

The operator of the new Silk Road website, which sells illegal drugs, says he has distributed encrypted portions of the site’s source code to 500 locations in 17 countries. He claims this will allow the site to be relaunched immediately if law enforcement shuts it down again.

Men who continue to smoke after they have received a diagnosis of cancer are more likely to die than those who find out they have cancer and quit smoking, according to a new study.

When kids come into treatment, their lives are just chaotic. Parents are desperate -- they don’t know what to do or where to turn. The most important thing is to bring stability into the situation, and the best way to do that is with medication, says Dr. John Knight.

States that have enacted more alcohol- and traffic-related laws have a lower proportion of traffic deaths, compared with states with fewer such laws, a new study indicates. Researchers say encouraging states to adopt more of these laws could significantly reduce preventable traffic-related deaths in the United States, especially among young people.

A study of more than one million Swedish men finds those who had an alcohol use disorder in their late teens had a higher risk of heart disease over the next two decades than those without a drinking problem. Later hospitalization for substance use disorders was also associated with a higher heart disease risk.

A new study finds the use of e-cigarettes among teens is associated with heavier use of regular cigarettes. The researchers say their findings suggest that the devices are creating a new pathway for youth to become addicted to nicotine.

About 100 families of children with seizures have come to Colorado to gain access to a marijuana-based oil to treat their children, The New York Times reports.

Large amounts of designer drugs are being imported into the United States legally, CBS News reports. While several synthetic drugs were outlawed by the federal government last year, chemists have been evading the law by continually coming up with new chemical compounds different from the ones that have been banned.