Specialised Drug Education Programmes Are Growing in Popularity
Specialised programmes that look to educate and prepare a new professional workforce have increased in number
Search
Smoking and DNA Changes
Analyses have found a direct link between the number of cigarettes smoked during one's lifetime and the number of mutations in tumour DNA. Commenting on these findings, Prof. Sir Mike Stratton from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute notes...
Combating Alcohol Misuse: Soldiers and the Fight against Addiction
New research published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology argues that telephone-based interventions seem an effective way of helping members of the military overcome alcohol addiction. The study demonstrates that such a...
Facing Addiction in America: The Surgeon General's Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy released a seven-chapter report covering all forms of drug and alcohol addiction, including public policy recommendations for prevention and treatment. The Surgeon General's Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and...
Substance Abuse and the Transition to Adulthood
Transitioning from childhood to adulthood can be a particularly difficult time for a lot of young people. A new study published in Emerging Adulthood investigates the way that adolescent substance users view this change in relation to their...
Parent-Child Relationships and Substance Use in Adolescence
Past research has often suggested parent-child connectedness and communication to be important for the prevention of substance, particularly alcohol, misuse among adolescents. A new study recently published in Drugs: Education, Prevention...
The Cambridge Handbook of International Prevention Science
The Cambridge Handbook of International Prevention Science provides readers with a comprehensive global overview of the current status of prevention science. The handbook includes up-to-date research from more than 100 scholars from 27...
Alcohol + Energy Drinks May Make You Drink More
Research has shown that people tend to drink more when they consume alcohol combined with energy drinks. Mixing energy drinks and alcohol is known to reduce the feeling of drunkenness as the stimulants in energy drinks dampen the sedative...
Smoking and Depression: What's the Relationship?
Almost 20% of American adults smoke cigarettes. Those diagnosed as having a moderate mental health problem are approximately twice as likely to smoke, whereas for those diagnosed as severely ill the risks are roughly three times greater...
Health Benefits from Stopping Smoking
Within as little as twenty minutes after your last cigarette your body begins to feel the effects of quitting. Health benefits from stopping smoking include, amongst other things, a decrease in heart rate and blood pressure, better...
Expanding Drug Markets in Australia
Recently sixteen people were hospitalised on the Gold Coast, Australia, after taking a new synthetic drug known as Flakka. One of those taken ill is said to be in a critical condition. Flakka takes the form of a white/pink crystal-like...
Contingency Management and Drug Disorders
The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) defines contingency management as “a general behavioural intervention technique used in the treatment of drug dependence … designed to weaken drug use and strengthen...
What are the Second-Hand Effects of Alcohol Consumption?
The ‘second hand effects’ of alcohol use can be defined as the negative consequences of drinking experienced by people other than the drinker. They can include, for example, serious acts of sexual and physical violence as well as more...
Scottish Courts Rule in Favour of Minimum Price for Alcohol
After more than four years of industry delay tactics, yesterday’s ruling from the Court of Session in Edinburgh has finally paved the way for the introduction of a minimum price for alcohol in Scotland, a policy approved by MSPs back in...
Parenting Styles and Alcohol Use
Alcohol use is common among children and adolescents despite the fact that this particular form of risk-behaviour can have a negative impact on one’s psychological and social development. A recent article published in the journal Drugs...
Alcohol Abuse Interventions in Primary Care Settings
A recent review of studies focusing on excessive drinkers identified and counselled in primary care settings has found that, when combined with screenings and assessments, brief, regular intervention sessions lead to greater reductions in...
Marijuana and Maternity: What Are the Effects?
Four US states currently allow r
ecreational marijuana use and twenty-four allow medical marijuana. However, little research has been carried out to uncover the drug’s effect on the development of human embryos if smoked or consumed in...
Opioid Abuse Linked to Heroin Use
New research published in the journal Addictive Behaviors has found the likelihood of 18- to 34-year-old nonmedical prescription opioid users having a prescription opioid use disorder has increased between 2002 – 2014. More specifically...
Identifying At-Risk Personalities
A new substance abuse prevention programme called Preventure uses personality tests to identify children most at risk of indulging in harmful drug-taking behaviour. The traits it has identified amongst at-risk children include: sensation...
Are Smoking Bans Having the Desired Effect?
A new study carried out by researchers at Ohio State University and subsequently published in the Journal of Health and Social Behaviour shows how smoking bans in the United States have led to a decrease in social or light smoking amongst...