Publications - Substance Abuse and Addictions

College students reported record-high marijuana use and record-low drinking in 2020, study says, by Maria Luisa Paul, The Washington Post, Sep 13 2021.

“A newly released study found that nearly half of the country’s college-age students said they consumed marijuana last year, leading researchers to wonder whether the pandemic may have spurred the record in cannabis consumption. One says the trend underpins the changing practices during — and struggles to adapt to — the global health crisis.  “The pandemic seems to have actually made marijuana into an alternative to escape the monotony of isolation,” said Nora Volkow, director of the federal government’s National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). “It’s made life become more boring, more stressful. So if drugs let you experience that completely different mental state, I wonder whether that would be a factor that leads people to use them.” ”

U.S. drug overdose deaths rise 30% to record during pandemic, by Julie Steenhuysen and Daniel Trotta, Reuters, Jul 14 2021.

“A record number of Americans died of drug overdoses last year as pandemic lockdowns made getting treatment difficult and dealers laced more drugs with a powerful synthetic opioid, according to data released on Wednesday and health officials.  U.S. deaths from drug overdoses leapt nearly 30% to more than 93,000 in 2020 - the highest ever recorded.  "During the pandemic, a lot of (drug) programs weren't able to operate. Street-level outreach was very difficult. People were very isolated," said Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein, a health policy expert at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore. ”

Addiction treatment had failed. Could brain surgery save him?, by Lenny Bernstein, The Washington Post, Jun 18 2021.

“More than 600 days after he underwent the experimental surgery, Buckhalter has not touched drugs again — an outcome so outlandishly successful that neither he nor his doctors dared hope it could happen. He is the only person in the United States to ever have substance use disorder relieved by deep brain stimulation. The procedure has reversed Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy and a few other intractable conditions, but had never been attempted for drug addiction here.  The device, known as a deep brain stimulator, also is recording the electrical activity in Buckhalter’s brain — another innovation that researchers hope will help locate a biomarker for addiction and allow earlier intervention with other people.  Yet for all the futuristic prospects, he is also proof of how difficult treatment of addiction remains. Quelling it with a scalpel helps refute the false belief that substance use disorder is a weakness or a moral failing, rather than a brain disease. But it does not address the psychological, social and socioeconomic factors that complicate the disease. ”

Women Now Drink As Much As Men — Not So Much For Pleasure, But To Cope, by Aneri Pattani, NPR, Jun 9 2021.

“For nearly a century, women have been closing the gender gap in alcohol consumption, binge-drinking and alcohol use disorder. What was previously a 3-1 ratio for risky drinking habits in men versus women is closer to 1-to-1 globally, a 2016 analysis of several dozen studies suggested.  And the latest U.S. data from 2019 shows that women in their teens and early 20s reported drinking and getting drunk at higher rates than their male peers — in some cases for the first time since researchers began measuring such behavior. ”

Exchanging COs For Clinicians, Mass. Makes Changes To Involuntary Addiction Treatment In Prison, by Deborah Becker, WBUR, Jun 30 2020.

“Correction officers will no longer be in charge of men involuntarily committed to addiction treatment at the Massachusetts Alcohol and Substance Abuse Center (MASAC) at the state prison in Plymouth. The Baker administration said MASAC is undergoing a "comprehensive transformation." The Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, which oversees the prison, said that as of last month, correction officers will maintain the perimeter of the facility and clinical staff work inside. EOPSS said clinically trained, non-uniformed staff will provide supervision and deliver more hours of programming each day. ”

Cannabis use rising faster among depressed Americans, by Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, Dec 26 2019.

“Regular cannabis use has risen more quickly among people with depression, and they’re less likely to perceive it as risky, compared with people who aren’t depressed, a U.S. study suggests. ”

Another Downside to Vaping: Higher Odds for Depression, by Steven Reinberg, U.S. News & World Report, Dec 4 2019.

“Vaping, already linked to lung damage, may also have harmful psychological effects, a new study suggests. The researchers found a strong association between vaping and depression in a study of nearly 900,000 U.S. adults. ”

There's 'Scarce Evidence' to Suggest Cannabis Improves Mental Health Symptoms, a New Research Review Says, by Jamie Ducharme, Time Magazine, Oct 28 2019.

“Marijuana is more mainstream than it’s ever been. A growing number of states are legalizing it medicinally and recreationally; millions of people are vaping products that contain the compound THC (potentially to the detriment of their health); and non-psychoactive CBD is in everything from beauty products to seltzer water. This spring, Google searches for CBD exceeded searches for buzzy health topics like acupuncture, apple cider vinegar and meditation, according to a recent JAMA Network Open analysis. The problem: Even though many consumers turn to cannabis compounds, known as cannabinoids, to soothe issues like depression and anxiety, these substances don’t seem to do much for mental health, according to a new research review published in the journal Lancet Psychiatry. ”

How Vaping Nicotine Can Affect A Teenage Brain, by John Hamilton, NPR, Oct 10 2019.

“The link between vaping and severe lung problems is getting a lot of attention. But scientists say they're also worried about vaping's effect on teenage brains. "Unfortunately, the brain problems and challenges may be things that we see later on down the road," says Nii Addy, associate professor of psychiatry and cellular and molecular physiology at Yale School of Medicine. Potential problems include attention disorders like ADHD, impulse control issues and susceptibility to substance abuse. ”

Contaminant found in vaping products linked to deadly lung illnesses, state and federal labs show, by Lena H. Sun, The Washington Post, Sep 5 2019.

“State and federal health officials investigating mysterious lung illnesses linked to vaping have found the same chemical in samples of marijuana products used by people sickened in different parts of the country and who used different brands of products in recent weeks.  The chemical is an oil derived from vitamin E. Investigators at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found the oil in cannabis products in samples collected from patients who fell ill across the United States. ”

Millennials May Be Drinking Less, But Binge Drinking Is On the Rise Among Older Adults, by Jamie Ducharme, Time Magazine, Jul 31 2019.

“Much has been made lately of millennials drinking less—and as America’s younger generations shift toward sobriety, recent research suggests the opposite is happening among its older ones.  A new study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society found that, from 2015-2017, more than 10% of adults 65 and older said they had binge drank—defined as consuming five or more drinks in one sitting for men, or four or more for women— in the past month, up from about 7% in 2006. That’s in keeping with other studies that have charted increases in excessive drinking among elderly adults, including one that pointed to a 65% increase in high-risk drinking in this population from 2001 to 2013. ”

Mental Health Screening Tools, by Theresa Nguyen, Mental Health America, May 2019.

“Taking a mental health screening is one of the quickest and easiest ways to determine whether you are experiencing symptoms of a mental health condition. Mental health conditions, such as depression or anxiety, are real, common and treatable. And recovery is possible. ”

Activists call for supervised injection sites for drug users, by unknown, AP, Apr 6 2019.

“Activists are hoping to persuade Republican Gov. Charlie Baker and state lawmakers to allow drug user to shoot up at supervised injection sites in Massachusetts. ”

Major study debunks myth that moderate drinking can be healthy, by Kate Kelland, Reuters, Apr 4 2019.

“Blood pressure and stroke risk rise steadily the more alcohol people drink, and previous claims that one or two drinks a day might protect against stroke are not true, according to the results of a major genetic study. ”

CBD Is Everywhere, but Scientists Still Don’t Know Much About, by Roni Caryn Rabin, The New York Times, Feb 25 2019.

“Cannabidiol, or CBD, a nonintoxicating component of the marijuana plant, is touted as a magic bullet that eases pain, anxiety, insomnia and depression. But scientists know little about what it can do. Most of the information about CBD’s effects in humans is anecdotal or extrapolated from animal studies, and few rigorous trials have been conducted. ”