Addiction

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) created the Guidance for the Assessment of Abuse Potential of drugs for patients who have a history of recreational opioid use. But does the strategy actually work?

A recent study published in The Journal of Pain looked at the effect of marijuana treatment on neuropathic pain.

Although indications for medicinal marijuana differ by state, pain is a common condition behind a prescription. But the pain relief effects appear to be greater in men.

Beyond high cost, people with hepatitis C face several barriers to treatment, and those arise from various sources. Doctors, Medicaid, private health insurance companies, and intravenous drug use can all be obstacles, according to a university study out of Massachusetts that examined treatment approvals for two new drugs.

Typically, the creation of a new drug is a process of tweaking or combining existing drugs to alter outcomes and side effects. A recent collaboration between researchers from Germany and across the United States, however, takes a novel approach in the battle against opiate addiction: trying to build a new painkiller from scratch.

Study results show that adults with chronic low back pain are more likely to use illicit drugs—including marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine—than those without chronic low back pain.

The news that physicians in Princeton, NJ were confronting an outbreak of hepatitis C in young people who were also using heroin shocked this affluent, mostly white community. Ronald Nahass, MD, talks about how it occurred and what needs to happen next.

It’s no secret that prescription drug misuse and abuse are on the rise. In an effort to curb addiction, researchers aimed to find how physician prescribing patterns influence the number of new cases.

A recent pilot study examined the feasibility of using mobile devices to collect health-related data among people living with human immunodeficiency virus and found patients were willing to report antiretroviral therapy adherence and substance abuse.

The strongest pain pill prescriptions come with the potential risk of addiction. For patients who are already battling the disease, finding pain relief presents quite a challenge.

A new study out of Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) is the first to show a direct link between pain level and risk of opioid addiction – and the increased risk is substantial.

The traditional sublingual delivery method of buprenorphine has revealed adherence issues in patients, but the implant version appears to have fixed that problem.

Doctors who did body cavity searches of a drug suspect without a warrant were named in two out-of-court settlements totaling $1.5 million. The ACLU says the practice is common and doctors should feel free to refuse despite pressure from law enforcement.