The Latest News from Our Field

Large financial incentives may help increase long-term quit-smoking rates in low-income smokers, a new study suggests.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on Thursday announced that it will not reclassify marijuana as a drug with accepted medical uses. The DEA will increase the number of authorized marijuana manufacturers supplying researchers.

Racial bias and stereotyping contribute to inferior treatment for pain in minority patients, experts tell The New York Times. As a result, minority patients suffer more disability than white patients.

A growing number of states are loosening or lifting bans on government benefits for people with felony drug convictions, PBS NewsHour reports.

New guidelines on diagnosing fetal alcohol spectrum disorder have been released by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. The new guidelines clarify and expand recommendations made in 2005.

Top headlines of the week from Friday, August 5- Thursday, August 11, 2016.

After a targeted campaign designed to reduce teen abuse of over-the-counter (OTC) cough medicine was introduced, reported abuse by teens decreased 35 percent, a new study finds. The Consumer Healthcare Products Association, which spearheaded the campaign, says while the study doesn’t prove the effort led to the decrease, it suggests it played a role.

Many Olympic athletes are taking advantage of a loophole that allows them to take a legal prescription drug that may improve their performance, but has not been banned by anti-doping authorities, NPR reports. Athletes in sports including tennis, swimming, cycling and volleyball are practicing this “legal doping.”

At least one person died and eight more were treated in a San Francisco emergency room late last year after taking counterfeit Xanax tablets cut with fentanyl, according to HealthDay.

Many e-cigarette products were rushed to market ahead of new Food and Drug Administration regulations on tobacco products, which took effect Monday. The new rules require companies to submit e-cigarettes for government approval, Reuters reports.

An advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration has recommended approving a long-acting opioid painkiller that the manufacturer says could deter abuse. The company that makes the new drug, Arymo ER, says it comes in a tablet that is extremely hard, making it more difficult to break down.

The Food and Drug Administration’s new rules on tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, went into effect Monday, HealthDay reports. Under the rules, announced in May, the agency is banning sales of e-cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco and hookah tobacco to people under age 18.

Many insurance companies require patients who have been prescribed the opioid addiction treatment Suboxone to get prior authorization, NPR reports. This requirement can take days or weeks, leaving patients vulnerable to relapse, one expert says.

A new study finds college students who misuse prescription stimulants are more likely to have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, compared with students not misusing stimulants. UPI reports students who misused stimulants also were more likely to have conduct disorder or substance use disorder.

Illicit drugs increasingly are being traded in hidden online marketplaces known as “crypomarkets,” The Wall Street Journal reports.

President Obama on Wednesday announced he is commuting 214 sentences for drug-related offenses, CNN reports. He has commuted a total of 562 sentences, more than the past nine presidents combined.

Aetna, one of the nation’s largest health insurance companies, is contacting doctors who prescribe significantly more opioids than their peers, The Washington Post reports.

A new study concludes the risk of long-term opioid use can be reduced by starting patients off with a single prescription of a short-acting opioid, with no refills.

A study of patients at pain or rehabilitation clinics who were prescribed opioids found 20 percent tested positive for the anti-seizure drug gabapentin (Neurontin), even though they did not have a prescription for the drug.

Top headlines of the week from Friday, July 29- Thursday, August 4, 2016.

Poison control centers around the country are receiving a growing number of calls about the abuse of the drugs gabapentin and pregabalin, which are prescribed to treat seizures and nerve pain. Abuse of these drugs has increased fourfold since 2006, new research indicates.

A new report urges legislators to end the use of anonymous shell companies, to help law enforcement fight opioid trafficking. The report, by the nonprofit group the Fair Share Education Fund, says requiring all companies formed in the United States to disclose their owners would allow law enforcement to curb drug trafficking.

High school students are more likely to use marijuana than to binge drink, a new report indicates.

Teens who have easy access to drugs or alcohol may be at increased risk of substance use in adulthood, a new study suggests.

A newly developed device worn on the skin as a temporary tattoo can measure a person’s blood alcohol level from sweat. The device can transmit the data wirelessly to a laptop or smartphone, according to engineers at the University of California San Diego.