A new study by Roosevelt University’s Illinois Consortium on Drug Policy shows deaths from heroin overdoses in Chicago’s Cook County fell 16 percent during the last decade, but the Chicago metropolitan region still ranks among the worst in the nation for heroin use. Kimberly Dennis, M.D…

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A specific and remarkably small fragment of RNA appears to protect rats against cocaine addiction – and may also protect humans, according to a recent study funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), a component of the National Institutes of Health. The study has just been published in the journal Nature…

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The Los Angeles Times’ Blog: “Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger moved Wednesday to implement a major element of the new national healthcare overhaul, seeking a $1-million federal grant to strengthen the state’s review of health insurance rates. Much of the money would pay for actuaries to evaluate premium hikes sought by insurers. …

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A new national study reveals that the rate of past month alcohol use (i.e., at least one drink in the past 30 days) among American Indian or Alaska Native adults is significantly lower than the national average for adults (43.9 percent versus 55.2 percent)…

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Scientists from The Scripps Research Institute have found that a particular type of genetic material plays a key role in determining vulnerability to cocaine addiction and may offer an entirely new direction for the development of anti-addiction therapies…

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Legalizing the production and distribution of marijuana in California could cut the price of the drug by as much as 80 percent and increase consumption, according to a new study by the nonprofit RAND Corporation that examines many issues raised by proposals to legalize marijuana in the state…

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Summertime and the living is easy. But not too easy for parents whose children will head to college in the fall. University of Rhode Island Psychology Professor Mark Wood, a nationally recognized alcohol researcher, wants parents to be aware that this is a time when teens tend to increase their alcohol consumption…

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Patricia Molina, MD, PhD, Professor and Head of Physiology at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, has been awarded a $4 million grant over five years by the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health to study how cannabinoids, the principal psychoactive component of marijuana, produce subtle changes in gene activity [...] Read more »

Members of the Parity Implementation Coalition laud the implementation of interim final mental health and addiction parity regulations by the Obama administration…

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In recent years, a growing and potentially life-threatening trend known as Robo tripping, the abuse of over-the-counter cough and cold medications, has emerged among America’s youth…

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