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Dental repairs

NIH Partners with the Dental Community to Help Curb the Opioid Crisis

July 25, 2018
Reducing healthcare’s reliance on potentially addictive opioid pain relievers has been one of the pillars of federal efforts to reverse the opioid crisis. Read More.

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Recent Posts

Photo of lab equipment picking up test tube.

FDA Approves First Drug Derived from Marijuana

July 2018
This week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Epidiolex (cannabidiol, or CBD), a medication extracted from marijuana, for the treatment of two severe pediatric seizure disorders. Read More.

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Word cloud of NIH HEAL initiative

An Ambitious Research Plan to Help Solve the Opioid Crisis

June 2018
In spring 2018, Congress added an additional $500 million to the NIH budget to invest in science to find solutions to the opioid crisis. The funding that NIDA is receiving will go toward the goal of addressing addiction in new ways and better delivering existing forms of care to populations that need it. Read More.

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Image of drug Lucemyra (Lofexidine)

NIDA-Supported Science Leads to First FDA-Approved Medication for Opioid Withdrawal

May 2018
This week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved lofexidine, the first medication targeted specifically to treat the physical symptoms associated with opioid withdrawal. Read More.

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All of Us promo for NIH Study

Million-Participant NIH Study Could Yield Important Insights into Addiction and Pain

May 2018
New data-gathering and analytic capabilities are enabling the kinds of massive, long-term studies needed to investigate genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors that contribute to disease. Read More.

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Image of a penny and a few specks of faux fentanyl to show lethality

The True, Deadly Scope of America’s Fentanyl Problem

May 2018
Today, a new analysis in JAMA by epidemiologists at NIDA and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reveals the scope of the crisis, and the rapidity with which the opioid problem has broadened from prescription opioids and heroin to include their much more deadly synthetic cousins. Read More.

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What Patients are Saying on a blackboard

Listening to Patients’ Voices in Developing New Opioid Addiction Treatments

April 2018
One of the pillars of the current federal initiatives to end the opioid crisis is the development of new medications to treat opioid addiction. The FDA Patient-Focused Drug Development Initiative (PFDD), established in 2012, seeks to solicit patient perspectives on which symptoms are most important to target. Read More.

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MRI scan of a brain

What Does It Mean When We Call Addiction a Brain Disorder?

March 2018
Informed Americans no longer view addiction as a moral failing, and more and more policymakers are recognizing that punishment is an ineffective and inappropriate tool for addressing a person’s drug problems. Treatment is what is needed. Read More.

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image of pregnant women

Could Naltrexone Be Used to Treat Pregnant Women with Opioid Addiction?

February 2018
A recent study published in Lancet found that extended-release naltrexone was equally effective at reducing illicit opioid use as the partial agonist buprenorphine if patients could be successfully initiated on naltrexone. Read More.

2 Comments
Image of pipettes and gloved hands

NIDA’s Past-Year Achievements Point the Way Toward Future Advances

January 2018
2017 brought exciting new basic science findings, including some striking new insights into the structure and functioning of receptors that play important roles in substance use, addiction, and pain. Read More.

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Monitoring the future logo

Monitoring the Future Results Show Reduced Opioid Misuse but Popularity of Vaping Among Youth

December 2017
Today the results of the 2017 Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey were released by NIDA-funded researchers at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and overall the news is encouraging. Read More.

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About This Blog

Dr. Nora Volkow

Here I highlight important work being done at NIDA and other news related to the science of drug abuse and addiction.
—Dr. Nora Volkow, Director

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Dr. Nora Volkow: Video Highlights

NIDA Director, Dr. Nora D. Volkow Videos

  • National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA): Quality Talks, October 2016
    Treating Addiction Within the Health Care System
    Watch video (18:51)
  • APA TV, May 2016
    APA TV chats with Dr. Nora Volkow, the Director of NIDA to hear about her lecture on drug abuse and the opioid epidemic.
    Watch video (3:20)
  • Kentucky Educational Television, May 2016
    One to One with Bill Goodman: Dr. Nora Volkow
    Watch video (27:41)
  • TEDMED, January 2015
    Why do our brains get addicted?
    Watch video (16:23)
  • The World Science Festival, April 2014
    The Moth: The Brain's Addiction - Nora Volkow
    Watch video (17:01)
  • Rockburn Presents, November 2012
    Dr. Nora Volkow
    Watch video (29:32)
  • Brookhaven National Laboratory WBNL Video, October 2012
    Chemistry celebration: FDG: Contribution to Our Understanding of Addiction
    Watch video (43:05)
  • CBS 60 Minutes, April 2012
    Hooked: Why Bad Habits Are Hard to Break 
    Watch video (13:31)
  • Science Times, June 2011
    Dr. Nora Volkow
    Watch video (8:19)