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Public health
The intersection of substance use with broader public health concerns.
What Are Kids Taking?
The results are in. The 2014 – 15 Canadian Student Tobacco, Alcohol, and Drugs Survey shows that, on the one hand, smoking rates are generally down, while on the other, experimentation with synthetic and prescription drugs is increasing...
The Will to Stop: Explaining Smoking Habits
A new study carried out by researchers at the University of Stirling has discovered a link between self-control and lifelong smoking habits. It claims that children identified as having low levels of self-control by age eleven are more...
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...
Marijuana on the Brain
According to new research smoking marijuana regularly distorts the brain’s natural risk and reward circuitry which, in turn, can affect people’s decision-making as well as their ability to maintain relationships. In this way, the study...
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...
Is Mass-Media Effective for Drug Prevention?
Mass-media can be a great means for sharing knowledge and information. A study recently published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) aimed to determine whether such channels are successful in reducing the intention to use, and the...
Australia's Health Report 2016
The Health Report of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare covers a range of health issues, including the health status of Australians, health expenditure, the major causes of ill health, determinants of health, health through the...
Low Self-Esteem Linked to Excessive Drinking Among Students
Student life and excessive drinking often go hand-in-hand. New research has found that it is students with low self-esteem that are more likely to indulge in unhealthy drinking behaviours than those with higher confidence levels. The...
Vaping Ads Make Smoking Tobacco Seem Healthier
Up to 50% of children who try tobacco cigarettes for the first time are likely to become regular smokers within three years. At the same time, experimentation with e-cigarettes is increasing. It is now more common for 11- to 15-year-olds in...
International Standards for the Treatment of Drug Use Disorders
Drug use disorders are a serious global health problem. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimates that 246 million people, or one in twenty 15- to 64-year-olds, used an illegal drug in 2013. Of those who use, one in ten...
U.S. National Report Shows Less Underage Drinking and Smoking, but Overall Substance Use and Mental Illness Levels Remain Constant
Some forms of substance use, such as adolescent (aged 12 to 17) underage drinking and alcohol use among young adults (aged 18 to 25), continued to drop according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA)...
Helping Young People Lead Healthy Lives
'Listen First' is a drug prevention initiative that aims at raising awareness around listening to children and youth as the first step to help them grow healthy and safe. This global campaign targets parents, teachers, policy makers, health...
The Internet and Alcoholism
The prevalence of binge drinking is highest amongst 18- to 24-year-olds. In the United States around 1,800 college students die from unintentional alcohol-related injuries each year. Given the growth of the Internet in the last twenty years...
World Renowned Nightclub to Close after Drug-Related Deaths
London’s world-famous nightclub 'Fabric' has had its license revoked due to what local authorities have described as a “culture of drugs” at the venue. In the last four years there have been six drug-related deaths involving the nightclub...
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...
Alcohol Abuse, Adulthood and ADHD
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the world’s most common developmental conditions. A recent collaborative study conducted in the United States and subsequently published in the journal Addiction shows that greater...
Youth Who Misuse Drugs Are More Likely to Commit Suicide
Suicide ranks among the top five causes of death among 15- to 19-year-olds. Research has shown that youth who misuse drugs are more likely to commit suicide than their peers who do not abuse substances. An estimated 27-50 percent of...
Online Learning Module: The Effects of Cannabis Use during Adolescence
The Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA) has released an engaging learning module that provides evidence-based information on the effects of cannabis use during adolescence. The module is based on CCSA's report on the psychological...
What Are Teens Vaping?
The use of e-cigarettes, also known as vaping, has become more popular among teens in recent years and has caused concern over a rise in nicotine intake among young people. In order to learn more about the percentage of nicotine consumption...