Thus far in 2016, perhaps more than any year in recent memory, we have seen profound changes in the extent to which addiction has been recognized as a disease that has devastating impacts and national significance. Presidential candidates have shared … Continue reading
A High Price to Pay for Pills that Promise ‘Focus’: Long-term Fallout from ADHD Drugs
September 16, 2016 by Leave a Comment
A host of concerns and scholarship have surrounded the increased use – or abuse, as the case may be – of ADHD drugs like Adderall and Ritalin over the last several years. Some have centered squarely on the potential for … Continue reading
The Notion of a ‘Safe’ Drug up in Smoke? Marijuana Smokers 5 Times More Likely to Abuse Alcohol
September 10, 2016 by Leave a Comment
One of the key arguments forwarded by proponents of marijuana (and, particularly, its legalization) has been the claim that pot is, on the whole, not harmful …to self or society. As we noted on this blog earlier in the year, … Continue reading
New Approach to an Overgrown Problem: ‘Non-addictive’ Painkillers Tested to Replace Opioids
September 6, 2016 by Leave a Comment
We have pretty dutifully, and thoroughly, covered the historic spike in prescription drug and opioid abuse on this blog. We have also, along with others in the media, health policy, and addictions treatment field, reflected on its costly, truly heartbreaking … Continue reading
All in Your Mind? Study shows New Neurological Basis for Excessive Drinking and Addiction
August 17, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Those who have studied or treated addiction would no doubt agree it almost always plays out as a complex dance between biology and human behavior. Indeed, the most successful treatment approaches almost always target both the physiological underpinnings of a … Continue reading
Helpful Herb or Toxic False Hope: New Concerns and Lingering Confusion over Plant-based Kratom (Part 2)
August 12, 2016 by 3 Comments
Lack of Regulation & Legal Limbo Kratom use is rarely life-threatening when used on its own, but in Thailand where the plant is grown – and increasingly in the U.S. and Europe – the substance is being combined with other … Continue reading
Helpful Herb or Toxic False Hope: New Concerns and Lingering Confusion over Plant-based Kratom (Part 1)
August 5, 2016 by Leave a Comment
A leafy drug that has seen increased use in recent years as a means of easing withdrawal from opiates or attaining a new, as yet mostly legal high, is also being linked to serious health risks and increased incidences of … Continue reading
‘Stop Stressing Me’: Research Identifies Brain Patterns That Increase Resilience to Stress
August 1, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Long term exposure to high levels of stress is not good for anyone. Stress – when not managed or mitigated – negatively impacts most all systems in the body , affecting how we eat and digest food, hold our bodies, … Continue reading
America, We Have a Problem: How Fentanyl is Changing the Landscape of the Opiate Crisis (Part 2)
July 27, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The Scary Scope of the Problem When investigators reviewed a sudden increase of deaths in 2014 which appeared to be caused by heroin, they subsequently discovered through lab tests that fentanyl was present in majority of the cases. Most recent … Continue reading
America, We Have a Problem: How Fentanyl is Changing the Landscape of the Opiate Crisis (Part 1)
July 22, 2016 by Leave a Comment
When music legend Prince Rogers Nelson’s death this spring was officially attributed to an overdose on fentanyl, it represented another instance in which broad public attention to a growing problem – particularly as it relates to substance abuse and addiction– … Continue reading