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In a new study published in the  American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse  by researchers at New York University's Center for Drug Use and HIV Research ( CDUHR ), lead researcher Joseph J. Palamar, PhD, MPH and his team sought to describe differences in self-reporting of nonmedical opioid use among high school seniors, who were asked about both general nonmedical opioid use and also specifically about nonmedical Vicodin and OxyContin use. The data was drawn from the Monitoring the Future ( MTF ) survey, a nationwide ongoing annual study of the behaviors, attitudes, and values of American secondary school students. The MTF survey is administered in approximately 130 public and private schools throughout 48 states in the US. Roughly 15,000 high school seniors are assessed annually. The results were not always clear-cut. "If someone checks off that they haven't used opioids you'd expect them to check off 'no' to nonmedical use of Vicodin and OxyContin l...

More than 11 percent of Americans report nonmedical use of prescription opioids at some point in their lives, a considerable increase from 4.7 percent ten years prior. The number of people who meet the criteria for prescription opioid addiction has substantially increased during this timeframe as well, with 2.1 million adults (0.9 percent of the U.S. adult population) reporting symptoms of "nonmedical prescription opioid use disorder ( NMPOUD )," according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5). "The increasing misuse of prescription opioid pain relievers poses a myriad of serious public health consequences," said Nora D. Volkow, M.D., director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), which contributed funding for the study. "These include increases in opioid use disorders and related fatalities from overdoses, as well as the rising incidence of newborns who experience neonatal abstinence syndrome. In so...

Marcella Boynton, first author of the research paper, said: "The majority of the U.S. public wants easy access to information about chemicals in cigarettes and other tobacco products. Surprisingly, our results reveal that groups one might presume to be the least psychologically motivated to look for this information, young adults and smokers, were more likely to say that they had previously looked for this information." More than a quarter of adults (27.5%) reported having looked for information on the different components of tobacco products and tobacco smoke, many of which are known to be poisonous or cause cancer. Out of these adults, 37.2% were young adults (18-25 years of age) and 34.3% were smokers. Out of non-smokers and older adults, 26% reported having looked for information on tobacco constituents. However, with the exception of nicotine, most respondents were largely unaware of which constituents are present in cigarette smoke. Over half of respondents (54.8%) ...

So given all the health benefits for people experiencing debilitating health issues, why does the federal government continue to stifle valid, externally valid scientific research on Cannabis sativa? In a recent paper published in  Science , researchers at The University of New Mexico including Associate Professor Jacob Vigil in the Department of Psychology and Assistant Professor Sarah Stith in the Department of Economics, concluded that the federal government continues to make it extremely difficult to conduct any meaningful research on the risks and benefits of medicinal use of Cannabis sativa. "Millions of patients have been granted the authorization to use medical Cannabis and Cannabis-based products by their respective state Health Departments and four states have begun taxing and regulating Cannabis sold for 'recreational' purposes," said Vigil and Stith. "However, the federal government continues to categorize Cannabis sativa as a Schedule I drug un...

Researchers combined and analyzed data from 1990 -- 2010 U.S. Multiple Cause of Death files as well as data on census and community populations. Individuals who turned 18 during the years from 1967-1990 were included, as this is the time period during which MLDA varied across states. Study authors also examined records on death from several alcohol-related chronic diseases such as liver disease and alcohol-related cancers. Findings indicate that an MLDA of 21 seems to protect against risk of death from alcohol-related chronic disease across the lifespan, at least for those who have not attended college. Individuals who did report college attendance appeared to derive no benefits from the MLDA of 21. The authors speculate this may be due to higher levels of binge drinking on college campuses, a campus environment that insulates against policies aimed at curbing underage drinking, and a culture that promotes drinking to excess. for more information visit our product website:...

Researchers asked 82 adolescents (47 males, 35 females) to report their real-life drinking in a TimeLine Follow-Back interview. The adolescents then participated in an experimental session of free-access intravenous Alcohol Self-Administration (ASA), using a computer-assisted alcohol infusion system that controlled for environmental cues as well as biological differences in alcohol pharmacokinetics . During the ASA, study authors assessed the participants' subjective alcohol effects at eight time points. During the interviews, the females reported significantly less real-life drinking than the males and, in the laboratory, achieved significantly lower mean arterial Blood Alcohol Concentrations ( BACs ), reported greater sedation, and rated negative effects as high as the males. The authors believe that adolescent women chose lower BACs because they experienced adverse alcohol effects, such as sedation, at lower BACs than men. A positive FH did not appear to be a risk factor fo...

"We were able to predict, with 74 percent accuracy, which 12- to 14-year-old youth eventually went on to engage in alcohol use by late adolescence," said Lindsay Squeglia, assistant professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina. "Neural features appear to be important predictors," she said. "While we are not at the point where we can scan every child's brain and know if they will/will not begin using alcohol, this is an important step in understanding brain features that contribute to alcohol use during adolescence. We are publishing the script we used for the analyses so other groups can replicate findings, in hopes that a final, validated model can be used clinically to predict adolescent alcohol use." Squeglia will present this research at the 39th Annual Research Society on Alcoholism in New Orleans June 25-29, 2016. The researchers gathered data on 137 healthy alcohol- and drug...

"How clients change their social connections after treatment is a strong indicator of substance-abuse outcomes one year and three years later," said Robert L. Stout, Ph.D., senior scientist and center director of the Decision Sciences Institute at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation. "[We were interested in] why clients make good versus poor social choices." Stout will present his research at the 39th Annual Research Society on Alcoholism in New Orleans June 25-29, 2016. "While clinicians have long urged clients to avoid 'bad' social contacts and foster 'good' ones, many relationships mix 'bad' and 'good' elements, and helpful connections may be lost at a time when they could be most useful," said Stout. "Clinicians lack specific guidance to target their therapeutic interventions to maximize impact on outcome. This study is designed to begin to provide the foundations for such guidance." The pre...

"Current trends in the neuroscience field, particularly in alcohol research, indicate that drugs which are used to treat various types of cancer, such as HDAC inhibitors, appear to be very important in regulating brain function," said Subhash C. Pandey, Ph.D., professor and director of the Alcohol Research Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "The data presented in the symposium by me and other investigators, will clearly indicate that various kinds of HDAC inhibitors are important in regulating the anxiety that develops during alcohol withdrawal as well as alcohol intake. It might thereby be important in treating and preventing alcohol addiction." Pandey will present his research at the 39th Annual Research Society on Alcoholism in New Orleans June 25-29, 2016. Pandey performed the experiments using an animal model during which rodents were exposed to alcohol for a long period of time. During a withdrawal period of 24 hours, one alcohol-exposed grou...

"Drunkorexia refers to a complex pattern of drinking-related behaviors that take place before, during, and after a drinking event," explained Dipali V. Rinker, a research assistant professor in the department of psychology at the University of Houston. "College students appear to engage in these behaviors to increase alcohol effects or reduce alcohol-related calories by engaging in bulimic-type or diet/exercising/calorie/restricted eating behaviors." Rinker will present this research at the 39th Annual Research Society on Alcoholism in New Orleans June 25-29, 2016. Rinker said there are a number of consequences. "Potential outcomes may include less inhibition that could lead to more negative alcohol-related consequences," she said. "Additionally, restricting caloric intake to those from alcohol could lead to vitamin depletion, as it may keep the individual from eating more nutrient-dense foods." Rinker said her research is designed to flesh...