Drug Use
Is Cannabis Bad for Teens? Data Paint a Conflicting Picture
Ten years after cannabis was first legalized for recreational use in adults, scientists are struggling to provide evidence-based recommendations about the risks to young people
Drug Use47 articles archived since 1845
Drug Use
To Treat Overdose Patients Now, Hospitals Must Test for More Kinds of Drugs
Most hospitals typically test people for drugs that drove overdoses 15 to 20 years ago. We need a national system for expanded testing to help patients get the treatment they need today
Drug Use
Vivitrol, Used to Fight Opioid Misuse, Has a Major Overdose Problem
A recent examination of Vivitrol’s clinical trial data uncovered many hidden overdoses. Its preferential use in the criminal justice system must stop
Drug Use
We Need Comprehensive Illicit Drug Analysis Now to Stop Overdose Deaths
More than 100,000 Americans die every year from drug overdoses. We should warn people in real time about dangerous adulterants in the illicit drug market
Drug Use
Could Weight-Loss Drugs Curb Addiction? Your Health, Quickly, Episode 12
Drugs such as Wegovy and Ozempic might help people tackle substance abuse as well as shed pounds.
Drug Use
Science Reveals How to Roll the Perfect Joint
Researchers used a smoking machine to test the intensity of marijuana rolled into joints
Drug Use
New Drug for Cannabis Use Disorder Shows Promise in Early Trials in Humans
A new pill could be the first to help the more than 14 million people in the U.S. who struggle to control their marijuana use
Drug Use
Heavy Cannabis Use Linked to Schizophrenia, Especially among Young Men
A huge Danish study shows that up to 30 percent of psychosis diagnoses in young men could have been prevented if these individuals hadn’t used marijuana heavily
Drug Use
A New Era in Addiction Medicine: A Trailblazing Doctor’s Legacy and the Ongoing Search for a Cure
Medication treatment for heroin addiction has come a long way since its pioneer died. But what would she think of the field today?
Drug Use
Over-the-Counter Narcan Is a Small Win in the Overdose Crisis. We Need More
Requiring a prescription for all forms of naloxone holds the overdose-reversing medication hostage, kept from millions of Americans who should carry it in their purses and back pockets
Drug Use
Methadone Maintenance versus Synthetic Heaven: Inside the Historic Fight over Heroin Treatment
In the 1970s Marie Nyswander thought that she had finally found a long-term treatment for heroin addiction, but not everyone agreed—including some of the people she was trying to help...
Drug Use
These Doctors Fought the Federal Bureau of Narcotics to Treat Addiction—With Drugs
In the early 1960s a trio at the Rockefeller Institute started a bold experiment to change the way heroin addiction was treated, and they did so using a drug originally created by “the devil’s chemist”...
Public Health
How Over-the-Counter Narcan Can Help Reverse Opioid Overdoses
A recent Food and Drug Administration decision that makes naloxone available without a prescription may increase the drug’s accessibility. But cost could be a barrier
Drug Use
From Orgasms to Overdoses: How Marie Nyswander Went from Treating ‘Sexual Frigidity’ to Heroin Addiction
A young psychoanalyst specializing in sexual issues starts getting calls for help—about something else entirely
Drug Use
What Is Xylazine? A Medical Toxicologist Explains How It Increases Overdose Risk and Why Narcan Can Still Save a Life
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has warned about the dangers of xylazine, but Narcan (naloxone) can still save people’s life during an overdose
Drug Use
Marie Nyswander Changed the Landscape of Addiction. Here’s How Her Story Begins
In the first episode of Season Five of the Lost Women of Science podcast, we meet a young doctor who, in 1946, was posted to Kentucky’s Narcotic Farm
Drug Use
Antimicrobial Resistance Is Growing because of COVID
Antibiotics won’t work on the virus that causes COVID, but in places like India, their overuse threatens to nullify their effects on other equally deadly pathogens
Drug Use
Should Parents Really Be Worried About Rainbow Fentanyl?
The candy-colored drugs are the latest Halloween scare, but history suggests such fears are overblown
Drug Use
The Federal Government Should Decriminalize Marijuana
An ideal federal marijuana policy would reduce arrests while supporting a highly regulated marketplace
Drug Use
A Recent Supreme Court Ruling Will Help People In Pain
By ruling in favor of two doctors accused of running pill mills, SCOTUS is clarifying opioid prescription practices
