Category: From Newswise – Addiction

The Mexico Violence Resource Project–a new initiative from the University of California San Diego’s Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies–was recently launched to provide policymakers and journalists analysis and information to better understand the complicated escalation of violence in Mexico.

In the wake of the opioid addiction crisis that has cost more than 500,000 U.S. lives, medical investigators have focused on finding new methods to help patients control pain.

A new IU study examining effects of low-level developmental lead exposure in mice could explain why some people dependent on alcohol return to using.

Almost 20 years into the opioid epidemic, there finally is evidence of significant and continual decreases in the abuse of these risky pain medications, according to an analysis of national data being presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY(r) 2020 annual meeting.

The NIH has awarded NYU College of Dentistry researchers Nigel Bunnett, PhD, and Brian Schmidt, DDS, MD, PhD, a $3.9 million grant to study targeting endosomal receptors for the treatment of chronic pain. The five-year grant will support Bunnett and Schmidt’s collaborative research, which aims to ultimately yield improved pain management without the need for opioids.

Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, Camino Pharma, LLC and University of California San Diego School of Medicine have been awarded an $11.4 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to advance a novel drug candidate for nicotine addiction into first-in-human Phase 1 studies. The drug targets a neuronal signaling pathway underlying addictive behaviors, and would be a first-in-class medication to help people quit smoking.

Traditionally, primary care clinics connect patients who have mental health care needs to specialists like psychiatrists in a collaborative care model.

Most doctors misperceive the risks of nicotine, the addictive chemical in tobacco products, according to a Rutgers-led national survey.

Two UC San Diego School of Medicine-led analyses report that e-cigarettes are not effective in helping adults to quit smoking.