The Latest News from Our Field

A task force of doctors, legislators and public health advocates in Florida are set to make recommendations to reduce the number of newborns exposed to opioids.

A controversial surgical procedure being studied in China attempts to cure addiction by destroying parts of the brain’s “pleasure centers,” Time.com reports.

The number of people in Maryland who have switched from abusing prescription drugs to heroin is on the rise, resulting in an increase in heroin-related deaths, according to The Baltimore Sun.

Maine public officials are reporting four cases of serious infections that resulted from people injecting the synthetic drugs known as bath salts.

The U.S. military has introduced a number of measures aimed at reducing binge drinking, NBC News reports. Service members and addiction specialists say alcohol abuse in the military is widespread.

Now that recreational marijuana is legal in Colorado and Washington, employers in those states must determine how to handle employees who fail a drug test after using the drug on their own time.

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi signed an emergency rule this week that outlaws 22 new synthetic drugs. The outlawed drugs are various forms of baths salts, or synthetic marijuana, known as K2 or Spice, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

A Boston-based company is trying to raise $50,000 to produce cups and straws it says will help reduce date rape, according to ABC News.

Pain management education must help prescribers focus less on patient satisfaction, and more on their functional improvement, according to Sherry Green, the CEO of the National Alliance for Model State Drug Laws.

Marijuana is a popular topic on the White House’s “We the People” online petition program, The Washington Post reports. Currently the second-most popular petition, with 66,000 signatures, asks President Obama to remove marijuana from the federal Controlled Substances Act.

A new study finds children and teens who overeat are more likely to start using marijuana and other drugs, compared with their peers who don’t eat too much.

New government guidelines recommend primary care doctors counsel children and teens not to start smoking. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force concluded that prevention is more effective than trying to get youth to stop smoking once they’ve started.

A Kentucky law that requires anyone writing a prescription for a controlled substance to check the state drug monitoring database has led to the discovery that some people addicted to opioids are targeting dentists.

A panel of experts assembled by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration voted against recommending approval of the painkiller Zohydro ER on Friday. The panel cited concerns over the potential for addiction.

Lawmakers in Ohio, Virginia and Kansas say they will introduce legislation that would require welfare recipients to undergo drug tests before receiving benefits, according to MSNBC.

Scientists are testing the synthetic version of the active compound in “magic mushrooms,” psilocybin, for a variety of purposes, including treatment of alcoholism, according to Time.com. The compound is also being studied as a smoking cessation aid.

Teenage girls who experience dating violence are more likely to binge drink compared with their peers who aren’t in abusive relationships, a new study finds. Teen boys who report dating violence are more likely to use marijuana as young adults compared with boys with healthy dating relationships.

While many programs aimed at prescription drug abuse focus on how to stop diversion of medications, an often overlooked but critical issue is preventing and treating opioid overdoses, according to a Brown University researcher.

Men and women benefit in different ways from Alcoholics Anonymous, a new study suggests.

Drug companies have joined together to oppose a local California law requiring them to run and fund a program that allows consumers to dispose of unused prescription medications, The New York Times reports.

Federal officials are weighing their options for legal action against Washington and Colorado’s new marijuana laws. Such action could undermine the laws, which legalize the recreational use of the drug.

Dozens of people gathered near Seattle’s Space Needle on Thursday to smoke marijuana, as Washington became the first state to legalize recreational use of the drug.

State prescription drug monitoring programs should use advances in health information technology to make the systems easier to use, according to a new government report. The programs should incorporate prescription drug monitoring data into the workflow of doctors and pharmacists, recommends the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.

Marketers of e-cigarettes are introducing ad campaigns that borrow ideas from older cigarette commercials, The New York Times reports. The commercials have been accepted by several cable channels, but no broadcast networks have yet agreed to carry them.

A new study concludes that parental involvement is more important than the school environment in preventing or limiting children’s use of alcohol or marijuana.