Category: From Newswise – Addiction

Conditions are ripe for transforming the U.S. mental health care system, with scientific advances, the growth of Medicaid and political consensus on the importance of improving mental health creating the possibility that goals once thought out of reach may be possible, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

DHS S&T is working with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) on a multi-phase study to improve detection of synthetic opioids.

Researchers have known that emotions play a critical, but complex role in shaping dependency on smoking and vaping. Now, a team of researchers report that emotions that trigger dependency for people who both smoke and vape may be different from people who just smoke, a finding that may one day help scientists create more personalized programs to help people quit tobacco smoking and vaping.

Even people who consider themselves to be casual cigarette smokers may be addicted, according to current diagnostic criteria.

Highlights from February 2021 Issue of AJPH

The American College of Academic Addiction Medicine (ACAAM) today announced the appointment of Bruce E. Hammond, Jr., CAE, as Executive Director, effective January 1, 2021. Mr. Hammond will step into the new position following the long-planned end-of-year retirement of Kevin Kunz, M.D., M.P.H., DFSAM, founding ACAAM President (2008) and Executive Vice President since 2013. ACAAM was formerly known as The ABAM Foundation and The Addiction Medicine Foundation.

A new study offers strong evidence that kids who use e-cigarettes are more likely to take up smoking or smokeless tobacco, researchers say. Teen boys who vaped were almost three times as likely to start smoking as other teen boys with similar risk profiles and more than two times as likely to try smokeless tobacco, the study from The Ohio State University found.

A community or sub-culture encouraging young men’s exposure and obsession with guns – as well as ready access to firearms and drugs – can make gun violence ‘all too easy’, with Flinders University experts promoting a new direction on managing the global problem.

New research has shown robots can encourage people to take greater risks in a simulated gambling scenario than they would if there was nothing to influence their behaviours.

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have developed a series of case studies for urgent public health issues to help students and practitioners across the U.S. learn how to apply big-data analysis approaches in their work.