Research Highlights | National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

“All Scientific Hands on Deck” to End the Opioid Crisis

May 31, 2017 | In 2015, two million people had a prescription opioid use disorder and 591,000 suffered from a heroin use disorder; prescription drug misuse alone cost the nation $78.5 billion in healthcare...

Nora's Blog

Smoking Cessation May Improve Behavioral Health Conditions (CRAN Blog)

May 10, 2017 | Cigarette smoking remains the single largest preventable cause of death and disease in the United States, responsible for over 480,000 deaths a year. Even though smoking has been decreasing overall...

Science Highlight

Combined HIV and heroin vaccine shows promise

May 10, 2017 | A novel combination vaccine designed to treat heroin addiction and target HIV was found to elicit immune responses in mice and dull their response to injected heroin in a recent...

Science Highlight

Smoking cessation medications alleviate symptoms of nicotine withdrawal, but not long-term brain changes

May 8, 2017 | Researchers now report that nicotine replacement therapy and the smoking cessation medication varenicline alleviate ex-smokers’ deficits in decision-making, but do not restore reward sensitivity. The new study pinpoints the types...

Science Highlight

High mortality among opioid use disorder patients in a general health care setting

April 24, 2017 | A new report provides information that primary care physicians and health care systems can use as they develop responses to the reforms and measure their success. The findings provide a...

Nora's Blog

Opioid Use Disorders and Suicide: A Hidden Tragedy (Guest Blog)

April 20, 2017 | In 2015, over 33,000 Americans died from opioids—either prescription drugs or heroin or, in many cases, more powerful synthetic opioids like fentanyl. Hidden behind the terrible epidemic of opioid overdose...

NIDA Notes

Nonmedical Opioid and Heroin Use Among High School Seniors

April 14, 2017 | This study analyzed the use of use of nonmedical opioids and heroin use among 68,000 high-school seniors participating in the NIDA-funded Monitoring the Future Study between 2009 and 2013.

Nora's Blog

Addressing America’s Fentanyl Crisis

April 6, 2017 | Every day, 91* Americans fatally overdose on an opioid drug. It may be a prescription analgesic or heroin but increasingly it is likely to be heroin’s much more potent synthetic...

Science Highlight

Research shows parallels between addiction and aggression

April 5, 2017 | A new study by scientists at the National Institute on Drug Abuse's (NIDA) Intramural Research Program (IRP) showed that when mice are exposed to experimental protocols adapted from those that...

NIDA Notes

Narrative of Discovery: Can Magnets Treat Cocaine Addiction? Part 3

March 30, 2017 | In parts 1 and 2: Several years ago, Dr. Diana Martinez, of Columbia University Health Center in New York City, decided to investigate transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) as a potential...

NIDA Notes

Buprenorphine Benefits Waitlisted Seekers of Opioid Treatment

March 24, 2017 | In two pilot clinical trials, buprenorphine helped participants reduce their illicit opioid use and injection drug use while awaiting admission to a methadone or buprenorphine treatment program. Researchers minimized the...

NIDA Notes

Endocannabinoid Regulates Cocaine Reward

March 22, 2017 | Investigators have shown that 2-AG, an endocannabinoid (i.e., a cannabinoid manufactured within the body, as opposed to plant-derived), augments the cocaine-induced dopamine surge in the brain’s reward system. The discovery...

NIDA Notes

Impacts of Drugs on Neurotransmission

March 9, 2017 | Drugs can alter the way people think, feel, and behave by disrupting neurotransmission, the process of communication between neurons (nerve cells) in the brain. Many scientific studies conducted over decades...

NIDA Notes

Why Are Our Brains So Big and Powerful?

March 3, 2017 | Why is the human brain so much bigger and more powerful than that of other animals? Researchers have investigated the hypothesis that changes not only in our genes themselves, but...

Nora's Blog

NASEM Report Recommends Removing Barriers to Cannabis Research

February 28, 2017 | The new report is based on reviews of research on both the cannabis plant itself and its constituents, but its conclusions are substantially similar to the 1999 report: While cannabis...

NIDA Notes

Promising Advances in the Search for Safer Opioids

February 23, 2017 | Two novel compounds powerfully suppressed animals’ pain responses, while producing little or none of the respiratory depression and liability for misuse and abuse associated with morphine and other typical opioids...

Nora's Blog

Improving Access to Substance Use Disorder Treatment in Baltimore City (Guest Blog)

February 13, 2017 | Tackling the opioid crisis and overdose epidemic in our nation is a task that involves partnerships among stakeholders at all levels: federal, state, and local governments and other organizations and...

Nora's Blog

Taking Stock of NIDA’s Achievements and Looking to the Future

January 19, 2017 | The need for better substance use disorder treatments, better diagnostic methods, and better prevention strategies has never been greater. The beginning of a new year gives us an opportunity to...

NIDA Notes

Prevention Program Reduces Substance Use By Participants' Friends

January 3, 2017 | This study found: The Strengthening Families Program for Youth 10-14 (SFP10-14) reduced substance use among the friends of teens who participated in the intervention, as well as the participants themselves...

Nora's Blog

As Some States Implement New Marijuana Laws, Science Should Guide Public Health Policy

December 8, 2016 | After the election on November 8, marijuana is now or will soon be legal for adult recreational use in eight states plus the District of Columbia. Careful thought should be...

Nora's Blog

Syringe-Exchange Programs Are Part of Effective HIV Prevention

December 1, 2016 | One of the best available strategies for reducing the spread of HIV among drug users is syringe-exchange programs (also called syringe service programs); their effectiveness has been proven through abundant...

Nora's Blog

The Surgeon General’s Report: Facing Addiction in America

November 16, 2016 | Today marks, I hope, another turning point in our country’s health, as Surgeon General Vivek Murthy released Facing Addiction in America: The Surgeon General’s Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health...

NIDA Notes

Nonmedical Treatment for Cocaine Addiction Shows Promise in Pilot Trial

November 14, 2016 | In this pilot study: Patients who received transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) were more likely to abstain from cocaine than patients who received medications for symptoms associated with abstinence. Researchers concluded...

Nora's Blog

Rethinking How We Talk About Addiction

October 27, 2016 | People with substance use disorders and other mental health issues face greater stigma than those with other illnesses. Many of the addiction-related terms widely used in our society—even in the...

NIDA Notes

Messages Shore Up Support for Making Life-Saving Anti-Overdose Medication Widely Available

October 19, 2016 | This research found that: Public health messages can increase public approval for making naloxone legally available to friends and relatives of opioid users to administer if an overdose occurs. The...

Science Highlight

Gene Variant Influences Nicotine-Induced Changes to Brain Circuitry

October 11, 2016 | Researchers at NIDA and the University of Toronto investigated the role of a gene, CYP2A6, which produces an enzyme responsible for metabolizing nicotine; different variants of this gene inactivate nicotine...

NIDA Notes

Why Do People Lose Control Over Their Cocaine Use?

September 27, 2016 | This animation addresses the question: Why do people lose control over their cocaine use? Researchers monitored the activity of two types of neurons in mice: “urge” neurons, which promote feelings...

Nora's Blog

Medical Marijuana Might Not Be a Safe Nausea Solution for Pregnant Women

September 22, 2016 | Medical marijuana is becoming more widely accepted and it is being used for a wide range of conditions. Scientific evidence of its effectiveness for most indications is still slim or...

Science Highlight

Virtual Drug Design Yields Opioid Breakthrough

September 21, 2016 | Existing opioid medications have a range of side effects that make them problematic as pain treatments, as has been seen in America’s current opioid crisis and overdose epidemic.

NIDA Notes

Quinine as a Tracer for Medication Adherence

September 19, 2016 | Patients who don’t take their medications or take them other than as prescribed often put themselves at risk for problems including misdiagnoses, complications, and death. The resulting costs to the...