The Latest News from Our Field

A government anti-tobacco ad campaign featuring graphic images helped 100,000 people quit smoking, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced this week.

E-cigarettes are about as effective as nicotine patches in helping smokers quit, a new study suggests. People who use e-cigarettes smoke fewer cigarettes, even if they don’t completely stop smoking, according to NBC News.

A new review of studies finds high rates of fetal alcohol syndrome in children who are adopted from Russian and Eastern European orphanages, or who are in foster care. These children also are more likely than average to have other physical, mental and behavioral problems related to alcohol exposure in the womb.

Recent deaths at electronic dance musical festivals may make corporate sponsors and investors nervous, The New York Times reports. At least seven young people attending these events have died after overdosing from “Molly” or other party drugs.

Young people who attend electronic dance music festivals tell The Christian Science Monitor that use of the drug “Molly” is widespread. The drug has been attributed to four recent overdose deaths, including two at a music festival in New York.

A new national survey of drug use released last week finds heroin use is on the rise, while methamphetamine use is decreasing, Time.com reports.

The attorneys general of Florida, Kentucky and Maine have asked the Los Angeles clothing store Kitson to stop selling T-shirts featuring the prescription drugs Vicodin, Xanax and Adderall.

Synthetic marijuana may be to blame in three deaths and 75 hospitalizations in Colorado, CNN reports.

Random drug testing in schools does not reduce students’ substance use, a national survey of high school students concludes. The study found students who attend schools where they feel treated with respect are less likely to start smoking cigarettes or marijuana.

Use of e-cigarettes among middle and high schools students doubled from 2011 to 2012, according to a new government survey. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found 10 percent of high school students had tried an e-cigarette last year, compared with 5 percent the previous year.

A marijuana advocacy group has posted a billboard ad across from Denver’s football stadium, USA Today reports. The Marijuana Policy Project’s ad urges the National Football League to “Stop Driving Players to Drink.” Referring to Colorado’s new marijuana legalization law, the ad notes, “A safer choice is now legal (here).”

Drug abuse prevention groups this week urged the Department of Justice to reconsider its announcement that it will allow Colorado and Washington to carry out their new recreational marijuana laws.

Law enforcement officials working in a government counternarcotics program have access to a huge AT&T database containing records of decades of phone calls, according to The New York Times.

CVS has announced it has revoked dispensing privileges for more than 36 physicians and other healthcare providers who wrote large numbers of prescriptions for painkillers, NBC News reports.

The U.S. Justice Department announced it will allow Colorado and Washington to carry out their new recreational marijuana laws, according to Reuters. The department will focus enforcement on criminal charges in specific areas, such as distribution to minors.

Laboratories in China are becoming a significant source of synthetic drug production, according to Time.com.

Almost one-fourth of Billboard Magazine’s most popular songs from 2009 to 2011 mentioned alcohol, a new study finds. Of the 167 songs, 46 referenced a specific brand, such as Patron, Hennessy, Grey Goose and Jack Daniel’s.

A national survey released Wednesday finds 5.3 percent of young adults used prescription drugs for nonmedical purposes in the past month, similar to rates in the previous two years. The survey found rates of teen drinking, including binge drinking, in the past month were lower last year compared with 2002 and 2009.

A new government report finds a link between prescription drug abuse and an increased risk of heroin use. Americans ages 12 to 49 who illegally use prescription drugs are 19 times more likely than others in their age group to begin using heroin, the report found.

“Molly,” the club drug suspected of causing two deaths this weekend at a New York City music festival, can be dangerous for casual users, experts say. They note it is hard for a person using the drug to detect when they are about to overdose.

A new study finds Hispanic teenagers are more likely than African-American or Caucasian teens to use drugs. The study by The Partnership at Drugfree.org found 54 percent of Hispanic adolescents said they had used an illegal drug, compared with 45 percent of African-American teens and 43 percent of Caucasian teens.

Watching the Country Music Awards Music Festival broadcast this week from Nashville reminded me that no matter how far we’ve come in changing social norms around tobacco – it remains a marathon, not a sprint, explains Julia Cartwright of Legacy.

Smoking cessation programs can be successful in patients hospitalized for mental illness, a new study concludes. Researchers at Stanford University found psychiatric patients in a quit-smoking program were more likely to stop using cigarettes, and were less likely to be re-hospitalized for mental illness, compared with patients not in the program.

A study of risk factors for early-onset dementia finds alcohol abuse tops the list, HealthDay reports.

“Hempfest,” Washington state’s annual marijuana festival, will be making some changes this year, now that recreational use of the drug is legal there, according to the Associated Press.