Drug Facts

A clinical study of 30 adult patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) has shown that smoked cannabis may be an effective treatment for spasticity – a common and disabling symptom of this neurological disease.

Chronic exposure to cocaine reduces the expression of a protein known to regulate brain plasticity, according to new, in vivo research on the molecular basis of cocaine addiction.

New research has shown physical changes to exist in specific brain areas implicated in schizophrenia following the use of cannabis during adolescence. The research has shown how cannabis use during adolescence can interact with a gene, called the COMT gene, to cause physical changes in the brain.

Children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) have higher rates of hospitalized bacterial infection than children without JIA according to an observational study.

A history of binge eating -- consuming large amounts of food in a short period of time -- may make an individual more likely to show other addiction-like behaviors, including substance abuse, according to researchers. In the short term, this finding may shed light on the factors that promote substance abuse, addiction, and relapse. In the long term, may help clinicians treat individuals suffering from this devastating disease.

New research suggests that chronic cocaine abuse accelerates the process of brain aging. The study found that age-related loss of gray matter in the brain is greater in people who are dependent on cocaine than in the healthy population.

Scientists have found clinical evidence that the drug gabapentin, currently on the market to treat neuropathic pain and epilepsy, helps people to quit smoking marijuana (cannabis). Unlike traditional addiction treatments, gabapentin targets stress systems in the brain that are activated by drug withdrawal.

Scientists have found clinical evidence that the drug gabapentin, currently on the market to treat neuropathic pain and epilepsy, helps people to quit smoking marijuana (cannabis). Unlike traditional addiction treatments, gabapentin targets stress systems in the brain that are activated by drug withdrawal.

New research reveals that repeated exposure to cocaine decreases the activity of a protein necessary for normal functioning of the brain's reward system, thus enhancing the reward for cocaine use, which leads to addiction. Investigators were also able to block the ability of repeated cocaine exposure, to induce addiction.

A five year study conducted with thousands of teenagers reveals that those who used speed (meth/ampthetamine) or ecstasy (MDMA) at fifteen or sixteen years of age were significantly more likely to suffer elevated depressive symptoms the following year.

Half of young adult tobacco smokers also have smoked marijuana in the last 30 days, according to a recent Facebook-based survey, indicating a greater prevalence of marijuana and tobacco co-use among smokers age 18-25 than previously reported.

Scientists are reporting development and successful testing in laboratory mice of a substance that shows promise for becoming the first antidote for cocaine toxicity in humans. The new so-called "passive vaccine" reversed the motor impairment, seizures and other dangerous symptoms of a cocaine overdose, which claims thousands of lives each year among users of the illicit drug.

Scientists have shown that an injectable solution can protect mice from an otherwise lethal overdose of cocaine. The findings could lead to human clinical trials of a treatment designed to reverse the effects of cocaine in case of emergency. Cocaine is involved in more than 400,000 emergency-room visits and about 5,000 overdose deaths each year in the United States.

Despite the great promise that injecting a new type of anti-inflammatory pain medicine into the spine could relieve the severe leg and lower back pain of sciatica, a new study has found that the current standard of care with steroid injections still does better.

A survey of a nationally representative sample of US teenagers suggests that most cases of alcohol and drug abuse have their initial onset at this important period of development. The median age at onset was 14 years old for regular alcohol use or abuse with or without dependence; 14 years old for drug abuse with dependence; and 15 years old for drug abuse without dependence.

A research team has determined the structure of the kappa-opioid receptor—site of action of the widely abused hallucinogen Salvia divinorum – solving longstanding scientific mysteries and offering new insights for treating drug addiction, chronic pain and depression.

Marijuana-like chemicals trigger receptors on human immune cells that can directly inhibit a type of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) found in late-stage AIDS, research suggests.

A single injection of cocaine or methamphetamine in mice caused their brains to put the brakes on neurons that generate sensations of pleasure, and these cellular changes lasted for at least a week, according to new research.

Researchers have found children's academic achievement test scores not affected by intrauterine exposure to cocaine, tobacco or marijuana. However, alcohol exposure in children who had no evidence of fetal alcohol syndrome did lead to lower scores in math reasoning and spelling even after controlling for other intrauterine substance exposures and contextual factors.

A major downside of the medical use of marijuana is the drug's ill effects on working memory, the ability to transiently hold and process information for reasoning, comprehension and learning. Researchers provide new insight into the source of those memory lapses. The answer comes as quite a surprise: Marijuana's major psychoactive ingredient (THC) impairs memory independently of its direct effects on neurons.