Drug Facts

A new brain imaging study suggests stress robustly activates areas of the brain associated with craving in cocaine-dependent women, while drug cues activate similar brain regions in cocaine-dependent men. The study suggests men and women with cocaine dependence might benefit more from different treatment options.

Data could lead to better advice for primary-care doctors struggling with a rising tide of older adult patients still in throes of youthful bad habits.

Scientists have identified a potential target for the development of anti-craving medications for people with addictions to stimulants such as methamphetamine.

New research provides fascinating insight into a newly discovered brain mechanism that limits the rewarding impact of cocaine. The study describes protective delayed mechanism that turns off the genes that support the development of addiction-related behaviors. The findings may lead to a better understanding of vulnerability to addiction and as well as new strategies for treatment.

Using marijuana carries legal risks, but the consequences of occasionally lighting up do not include long-term loss of lung function, according to a new study. In the study in which participants had repeated measurements of lung function over 20 years, occasional and low cumulative marijuana use was not associated with adverse effects on pulmonary function.

Different ingredients in marijuana appear to affect regions of the brain differently during brain processing functions involving responses to certain visual stimuli and tasks, according to a new report.

Efforts to halt the growing abuse of prescription drugs must include addressing the availability of these drugs on the Internet and increasing physician awareness of the dangers posed by Internet pharmacies, according to experts.

Cigarette and alcohol use by eighth, 10th and 12th-graders are at their lowest point since the Monitoring the Future survey began polling teenagers in 1975, according to this year's survey results. However, this positive news is tempered by a slowing rate of decline in teen smoking as well as continued high rates of abuse of other tobacco products (e.g., hookahs, small cigars, smokeless tobacco), marijuana and prescription drugs.

Researchers find that mood and anxiety disorders are highly associated with non-medical prescription opioid use.

A UCSF study suggests patients with chronic pain may experience greater relief if their doctors add cannabinoids – the main ingredient in cannabis or medical marijuana – to an opiates-only treatment. The findings, from a small-scale study, also suggest that a combined therapy could result in reduced opiate dosages.

Recreational use of Ecstasy -- the illegal "rave" drug that produces feelings of euphoria and emotional warmth -- is associated with chronic changes in the human brain, researchers have discovered. The findings add to the growing evidence that Ecstasy produces long-lasting serotonin neurotoxicity in humans.

The more gray matter you have in the decision-making, thought-processing part of your brain, the better your ability to evaluate rewards and consequences. A new study is the first to show this link between structure and function in healthy people -- and the impairment of both in people addicted to cocaine.

A new study shows that laws legalizing medical marijuana lead to fewer traffic deaths and less consumption of alcohol.

Fewer Ontario teens are smoking cigarettes than ever before -- good news that is tempered by continuing concerns around binge drinking, and driving while under the influence of cannabis, according to the 2011 Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey. The survey, which included 9,288 students across Ontario in grades 7 to 12, is the longest running student survey in Canada.

Pediatricians often treat young children who have frequent bouts of wheezing with a daily dose of an inhaled steroid to keep asthma symptoms at bay. But results of a recent study are likely to change that.

Researchers have discovered a new means of enhancing the effects of anandamide -- a natural, marijuana-like chemical in the body that provides pain relief.

A high childhood IQ may be linked to subsequent illegal drug use, particularly among women, new research suggests.

Young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 report the highest rates of substance use and dependence, according to the U.S. National Survey on Drug Use & Health. A new study found that rural adolescents who engage in prosocial behaviors, such as volunteering and helping others, are less likely to use substances as young adults.

Cigarettes and alcohol serve as gateway drugs, which people use before progressing to the use of marijuana, cocaine and other illicit substances; this progression is called the "gateway sequence" of drug use. Latest findings provide the first molecular explanation for the gateway sequence. They show that nicotine causes specific changes in the brain that make it more vulnerable to cocaine addiction -- a discovery made by using a novel mouse model.

A landmark study in mice identifies a biological mechanism that could help explain how tobacco products could act as gateway drugs, increasing a person's future likelihood of abusing cocaine and perhaps other drugs as well, according to researchers. The study is the first to show that nicotine might prime the brain to enhance the behavioral effects of cocaine.