The Latest News from Our Field

The Food and Drug Administration is inviting public comment on possible changes to smokeless tobacco product warnings.

Three men who met while in recovery have developed a prepaid card designed to help others who are recovering from addiction manage their money, the New York Daily News reports.

New research suggests people with common genetic mutations have an almost eightfold increased risk of dying from cocaine abuse. The mutations affect the chemical messenger dopamine in the brain.

The lungs of people who smoked heavily for many years can be used successfully in double lung transplants, a new study finds.

The threshold for the driving-under-the-influence standard that is part of the new Washington state marijuana law may be too high, a government expert told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Emergency departments reported a significant rise in the number of visits related to the opioid addiction medication buprenorphine between 2005 and 2010, according to a new government report.

A national survey of college freshmen finds 33 percent reported drinking beer in 2012, down from 35.4 percent the previous year. The survey found 39.2 percent of college freshmen said they drank wine or liquor last year.

Teenagers’ decision to have a first alcoholic drink may be influenced by their best friends, a new study suggests. Researchers found having friends who drink and who have access to alcohol is the most important factor in predicting when a teen starts drinking.

Major League Baseball has announced it is investigating claims that several high-profile players were sold performance-enhancing drugs by a clinic in South Florida, according to Reuters.

Medicine is only effective when it is used properly, and for young people moving to adulthood, learning how to use medicine properly is a critical life skill, explains Nora L. Howley of the NEA Health Information Network.

Young teens appear to be susceptible to the persuasive messages in television alcohol ads, a new study suggests. The ads influence some young teens to drink more and experience drinking-related problems later in adolescence, the researchers found.

The United States is not on track to meet the government’s goal of reducing cigarette smoking prevalence to 12 percent by 2020, according to a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). An estimated 443,000 people die from cigarette smoking each year, the CDC report states.

The California Supreme Court will soon decide whether local governments can ban marijuana dispensaries, according to the Los Angeles Times. The court will hear arguments on February 5, following years of contradictory decisions by lower courts.

Heroin use is growing in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, while abuse of opiate painkillers, such as methadone and oxycodone, may be decreasing, according to a new report.

A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory panel voted Friday to strengthen restrictions on hydrocodone combination drugs, such as Vicodin. The panel recommended that the FDA make the drugs more difficult to prescribe.

A survey of parents finds just one-third are very concerned about the misuse of prescribed narcotic pain medicine by children and teens in their community, according to HealthDay. Only one-fifth are very concerned about the misuse of these drugs in their own families.

Communities across the country are beginning to organize town hall meetings, support groups and campaigns to discourage the growing use of heroin, The Christian Science Monitor reports.

Representatives from Mexico, Colombia and Costa Rica met with U.S. officials last week to discuss the impact on Latin America of new marijuana legalization laws in Colorado and Washington.

Michael Botticelli brings insights from the Massachusetts Department of Health to his new job as Deputy Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

The soon-to-be-released update of psychiatry’s diagnostic manual, DSM-5, combines problem drinking and alcoholism into a single condition known as “alcohol use disorder.” A new study suggests these changes may not improve the diagnosis of alcoholism, Time.com reports.

A top Drug Enforcement Administration official said this week the high rates of abuse of hydrocodone combination pills demonstrate physicians aren’t taking the risks of these medications seriously.

Emergency room visits involving attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) drugs more than doubled from 2005 to 2010, according to a new government report. The number of visits involving ADHD medications that were used non-medically almost tripled during this period.

This fall, seven of the eight Ivy League universities introduced new alcohol policies in an effort to combat high-risk drinking, the Yale Daily News reports.

Smokers lose at least 10 years of life expectancy, compared with those who have never smoked, according to a study published in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine.

High school programs that teach teens to better manage their personality traits can help reduce and postpone problem drinking, a new study suggests.