The Latest News from Our Field

A new study finds that borrowing medication prescribed to someone else is not more common in low-income, urban populations, compared with the general population.

Some Connecticut universities and colleges are considering easing their marijuana policies in light of a new state decriminalization law.

Almost one-quarter of Americans age 12 or older say they participated in binge drinking in the previous month, according to a government survey.

A new vaccine shows promise in heroin addiction treatment, a study in rats suggests.

Electronic cigarettes, or “e-cigarettes,” are crude drug delivery systems for refined nicotine that pose unknown risks, two experts write in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine.

Seattle’s City Council voted this week to establish a system for licensing and regulating medical marijuana distribution under a new Washington state law.

Exposure to secondhand smoke can lead to hearing loss in teenagers, who often don’t realize they have hearing difficulties, a new study suggests.

Actor Martin Sheen returned to Congress this week to testify in favor of authorizing drug court funding for veterans in 2012.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has given approval to the state’s medical marijuana program. He says he believes the state’s narrowly focused program will not be subject to federal prosecution.

Health care providers in Ohio are reporting cases of people abusing a type of incense sold under the brand name “Mad Hatter.”

A growing body of research is showing that when it comes to treatments for alcohol use disorders, women’s needs are different from men’s. Scientists who recently presented studies at the Research Society on Alcoholism are exploring gender differences in alcohol treatment and moving beyond a one-size-fits-all strategy.

Researchers are asking the federal government for approval to study the effects of marijuana on veterans with chronic post-traumatic stress disorder who have not responded to other treatment.

The blood pressure drug propranolol may help treat cocaine addiction, a new animal study suggests.

Women who are suffering from a major depressive episode when they enter drug court are at substantially greater risk of using crack cocaine within four months, compared with women who are not currently depressed, according to a new study.

A new Gallup poll finds that 59 percent of Americans support a public ban on smoking. Only 19 percent say that cigarette smoking should be illegal in the United States.

Emergency rooms are seeing a growing number of people high on “bath salts,” new stimulant drugs that can cause long-lasting and dangerous effects. The New York Times reports that doctors are trying to determine the best way to treat people high on these synthetic drugs.

The Food and Drug Administration is considering banning menthol cigarettes following a recent report, from its Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee, that the cigarettes are extremely popular among African Americans, the poor and young.

Girls appear to be especially vulnerable to the effects of binge drinking on the brain, a new study suggests.

A year-and-a-half after New Jersey legalized medical marijuana, patients authorized to receive the drug have not yet been able to get it.

Dr. Carol Boyd, nationally recognized scholar on prescription drug abuse and adolescents, speaks with Join Together about why prescription drug abuse has become such a major problem among teens, why it is different from other adolescent substance abuse issues, and what parents and others can do to help prevent it.

Injection drug users have higher rates of abuse and dependence and have a greater need for substance abuse treatment compared with non-injecting drug users, a new study suggests.

Using the club drug ketamine three times a week for two years can impair bladder function, Hong Kong researchers report.

A growing number of smokers are rolling their own cigarettes using pipe tobacco in order to avoid paying high excise taxes.

Children and young teens are being exposed to less smoking in movies than they were five years ago, an analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows. The CDC has found that the number of youth-targeted films that include smoking has decreased for the fifth consecutive year.

A bill co-sponsored by Senator Chuck Schumer (NY) and Jay Rockefeller (WV) would require doctors to receive training for prescribing opiate-based narcotics. The training would include information about guidelines for safe pain management, and the early warning signs of addiction.