More young people begin recreational cannabis use illegally in states that legalize it
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Latest funded news by National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
Once a state legalizes recreational cannabis and increase in youth using it illegally occurs, report researchers at University of California San Diego Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science.
Evidence from human and animal testing suggests the brain-altering effects of psychedelics could be repurposed for treating addiction. Now, researchers at UC Davis and the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus plan to screen hundreds of compounds to discover new, nonhallucinogenic treatments for substance use disorders. The research is funded by a $2.7 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the National Institutes of Health.
A University of Washington study of adult smokers finds that those who switch to vaping some or all of the time may adopt other healthy behaviors.
Researchers at Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found a way to help more patients who want to stop smoking. The successful strategy involves using electronic medical records to help identify smokers when they visit their oncologists and offering help with quitting during such visits.
Scientists report they have located an area in the mouse genome where genetic variation is associated with differences in the mutation rate between individuals. Every organism is born with a few mutations in their genome that differ genetically from both of their parents. Such changes in an individual’s genetic code create the diversity that allows nature to select advantageous traits that drive the evolution of a species. The type of mutations and the rate at which they appear vary between individuals and species. To locate the mutator allele, the investigators sequenced the genomes of inbred mice. The region they found to be associated with the higher mutation rate is known to contain 76 genes. A subsequent analysis to see which gene might cause the higher mutation rate led them to a gene called Mutyh. This gene encodes a protein involved in DNA replication and repair. It already had been linked to some cancer syndromes in humans. Other nearby genes might play a role in an increased rate of mutations in these mice, but Mutyh is the current prime suspect.
UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers report effective anti-vaping advertisements geared to teens have the greatest impact when they emphasize the adverse consequences and harms of vaping e-cigarettes, use negative imagery, and avoid memes, hashtags and other “teen-centric” communication styles.
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Saint Louis University found that less than half of Americans who received treatment for opioid use disorder over a five-year period were offered a potentially lifesaving medication. The numbers were even lower for those with what’s known as polysubstance use disorder — when opioid users also misuse other substances.
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the lives of people who use drugs in ways that hurt their mental health and changed drug use behaviors, increasing their risk for overdose, according to surveys and interviews with individuals in rural Illinois captured in a new study in Addiction Science and Clinical Practice.