The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday recommended tighter restrictions on products that contain hydrocodone, an opioid painkiller present in commonly prescribed, potentially addictive drugs such as Vicodin.

Until…

Many negative effects of drinking, such as transitioning into heavy alcohol use, often take place during adolescence and can contribute to long-term negative health outcomes as well as the development of…

Krokodil, a dangerous, heroin-like narcotic that rapidly rots flesh, may have made its first appearance in the United States, according to Arizona health officials.

This week, toxicologists…

Doctors who abuse prescription drugs often do so for “self-medication” - whether for physical or emotional pain or stress relief, reports a study in the October Journal…

The past fortnight has seen the release of alarming new figures about drug overdose in England and Wales, together with a report damning the UK Government’s approaches to drug addiction. Prime…

In the USA, pain is managed with pain relievers that include opioid analgesic drugs such as oxycodone, methadone, hydrocodone, and oxymorphone. With different types of opioid drugs available and frequently…

As misuse of prescription drugs increases, treating addiction to these drugs has become as crucial as preventing it. Yet best practice in this area remains elusive. David Holmes reports.

Last June,…

Mice given cocaine showed rapid growth in new brain structures associated with learning and memory, according to a research team from the Ernest Gallo Clinic…

Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have described findings that could enable the development of more effective drugs for addiction with fewer side…

Fewer states are holding alcohol retailers liable for harms caused by customers who were served illegally, according to a new report from researchers at Alcohol Policy…

Children who grow up in poverty are more likely than wealthier children to smoke cigarettes, but they are less likely to binge drink and are no more prone…

Millions of children worldwide live on the streets. A review and analysis of 50 studies on substance abuse by street children in 22 resource-constrained countries…

A single dose of a commonly-prescribed attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) drug helps improve brain function in cocaine addiction, according to an imaging study conducted by researchers from the Icahn School…

A new study by researchers at the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center at UC San Francisco offers encouraging findings that researchers hope may one day lead…

A missing brain enzyme increases concentrations of a protein related to pain-killer addiction, according to an animal study. The results will be presented Monday at The Endocrine Society’s 95th Annual Meeting…

Prevention is often the best medicine, not only for physical health, but also public health, according to researchers at Penn State and Iowa State University.

According to the…

A new study conducted by a team of Indiana University neuroscientists demonstrates that GLT1, a protein that clears glutamate from the brain, plays…

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have unraveled the molecular foundations of cocaine’s effects on the brain, and identified a compound that blocks cravings for the drug in cocaine-addicted…

A program co-led by St. Michael’s Hospital could be the next widely used model to treat patients who are frequent users of the…

America’s 78 million aging baby boomers are heading into retirement with more than their considerable wealth, health and education. They are also bringing into their golden years an epidemic of drug…

Early, substantive dialogue between parents and their grade-school age children about the ills of tobacco and alcohol use can be more powerful in shaping teen behavior than…

The first school in Nevada devoted to teaching people how to operate a successful medical marijuana dispensary has opened.

The Cannabis Career Institute launched its Budtender School with a workshop…

Teens and preteens with a parent deployed in the military may be more likely to binge drink or misuse prescription drugs, according to a new study.

Previous studies have…

By stimulating one part of the brain with laser light, researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center at UC San Francisco (UCSF)…

In 2010, almost 2 million American children had at least one parent in active military duty. A new University of Iowa study suggests that deployment…