Towards a New Consensus for Addiction Medicine Training
A new study asks for the opinions of addiction experts, with a view to reaching a consensus on the necessary core skills that medical education ought to cover.
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Long-Term Effects of the Strong African American Families Programme on Youths’ Alcohol Use
Long-term results from an alcohol use prevention programme developed for poor black US families with 11-year-old children reinforce the potential of an approach which engages parents and children to improve parenting and change the children...
Tobacco Use during Pregnancy and Its Associated Factors in a Mountain District of Eastern Nepal
Background: Tobacco using among women is more prevalent in Nepal as compared to other South-East Asian countries. The effect of its use is seen not only on the pregnant women, but also health of the growing fetus is compromised. Currently...
E-Cigarettes Less Addictive Than Traditional Cigarettes, Study Finds
E-cigarettes are less addictive than traditional cigarettes, according to a new study published in the journal Preventative Medicine.
That said, around 75% of e-cigarette smokers still consider themselves to be dependent on their use.
Mor...
Web-Based Alcohol Intervention: Study of Systematic Attrition of Heavy Drinkers
ABSTRACT
Background: Web-based alcohol interventions are a promising way to reduce alcohol consumption because of their anonymity and the possibility of reaching a high number of individuals including heavy drinkers. However, web-based...
How Do We Tackle the Opioid Epidemic?
The over-prescription of opioids is a significant public health issue in the United States. For example, opioids are often prescribed for minor injuries unnecessarily. This, in turn, increases the risk of addiction.
New research presented...
Quality of Behavioural Drug Treatment Implementation Dictates its Success
Contingency management (CM) is a widely used behavioural therapy for substance use disorders. It offers material rewards for attending sessions and adhering to prescribed medication courses, amongst other positive behaviours.
A study...
Preventing and Treating Tobacco Use among Canadian Youth
The Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care has issued a new evidence-based guideline for combatting tobacco use by children and young adults aged 5 – 18, suggesting that physicians ought to have a more active role in the prevention...
Public Health Strategies to Prevent Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome: CDC Grand Rounds
Public Health Burden of Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome
Neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) is a drug withdrawal syndrome that most commonly occurs in infants after in utero exposure to opioids, although other substances have also been...
Can Drug Prevention Programmes Reduce Substance Use by Participants’ Friends?
Besides reducing substance use between its participants one prevention programme also reduced drug use among the friends of those who took part.
Does AA Really Help Drinkers Stop?
12-step fellowships offer a way to reconcile shrunken resources with the desire to get more patients safely out of treatment. Accounting for the self-selection bias which has obscured AA’s impacts, this synthesis of US trials finds that...
Validity and Reliability of the Alcohol, Smoking, and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST) in University Students
The Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST), developed by the World Health Organization (WHO), has been used successfully in many countries, but there are few studies of its validity and reliability for the...
Multiple Fentanyl Overdoses — New Haven, Connecticut, June 23, 2016
Summary
What is already known about this topic?
Fentanyl and its analogs have been substituted for heroin and other opioids, and are usually marketed to persons seeking opioids. Because of fentanyl’s high potency compared with heroin...
Readiness and Barriers to Adopt Evidence-Based Practices for Substance Abuse Treatment in Mexico
Evidence shows a lag in the adoption of evidence-based practices for substance abuse treatment and supports the need for studying the factors involved in this worldwide problem.
Are Drinking Cultures in the West Changing?
Levels of alcohol consumption have generally decreased in the West over the last ten years. A series of papers published in a recent special issue of Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy focuses on this topic of drinking cultures...
The TV Made Me Do It: Children and Alcohol Consumption
New research published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs supports evidence that alcohol adverts influence underage drinking. The authors suggest that the more exposure children receive to adverts for specific brands, the...
Music Videos Might Encourage Binge Drinking
A recent review carried out by researchers at the University of Nottingham's UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies suggests popular YouTube music videos that include aural and/or visual references to alcohol often glamourise consumption...
Higher Numbers Getting High
Marijuana use amongst adults in the United States is increasing. A study of over half-a-million people carried out between 2002 – 2014 and subsequently published in The Lancet suggests that this is because fewer perceive the drug to be...
Shoot Hoops, Not Drugs: Sport as a Healthy Alternative
Eighty percent of 3- to 17-year-olds play some form of sport. Practitioners in the field of drug prevention have looked to promote sporting activity as a healthy alternative to substance use amongst young people. The Canadian Centre on...
Addiction as a Brain Disease
Even though scientific advances over the past decades have supported the concept of addiction as a brain disease, skepticism remains. Recent research has aimed to reinforce the link between addiction and brain functions and broaden the...