Research Highlights | National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

Participant Recruitment Now Underway for Landmark Study on Adolescents

September 13, 2016 | The Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study, which has been in the planning phase for just under a year, is now recruiting more than 10,000 9- and 10-year-olds at 19...

NIDA Notes

A Case for Studying Brain Asymmetry in Drug Use

September 6, 2016 | A new study proposes that research into the discrete roles played by the brain’s two hemispheres could yield important and actionable insights into drug use and addiction. Dr. Harold Gordon...

Science Highlight

Women less sensitive than men to analgesic, but not rewarding effects of cannabis

September 2, 2016 | Animal studies have shown sex differences in cannabis-induced analgesia, but these studies had not previously been done in humans. A new study explored this issue by assessing the analgesic and...

Nora's Blog

Responsibly and Sensitively Addressing Chronic Pain Amid an Opioid Crisis

September 2, 2016 | Last week, the U.S. Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy, sent a personal letter to more than 2.3 million health care practitioners and public health leaders, seeking their help to address the...

NIDA Notes

Regular Marijuana Use Is Associated With Differences in Brain Gray Matter and Connectivity

September 1, 2016 | A NIDA-funded brain imaging study has shown that regular users of marijuana have less gray matter than nonusers of the drug in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), a brain region that...

NIDA Notes

Slow-Release Amphetamine Medication Benefits Patients With Comorbid Cocaine Addiction and ADHD

August 25, 2016 | In this clinical trial: Treatment with an extended-release stimulant medication plus cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) was associated with reductions in cocaine use and in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms in patients...

NIDA Notes

Study Questions Role for Marijuana in Teen Users’ IQ Decline

August 1, 2016 | In a recent study sponsored by NIDA and the National Institute of Mental Health, teens who used marijuana lost IQ points relative to their nonusing peers. However, the drug appeared...

NIDA Notes

Narrative of Discovery: Can Magnets Treat Cocaine Addiction? Part 2

July 13, 2016 | In Part 1: A few years ago Dr. Diana Martinez and Dr. Marco Diana decided to investigate a new technology that uses magnetic pulses to stimulate brain cells. Both had...

Nora's Blog

Psychiatrists Should Take a More Active Role in Treating Pain

June 17, 2016 | The recommendation to move away from opioids as the first line of treating many types of chronic noncancer pain has generated an understandable outcry from some pain patients who fear...

Nora's Blog

Probuphine: A Game-Changer in Fighting Opioid Dependence

May 26, 2016 | Medications like buprenorphine and methadone have revolutionized the treatment of people with opioid use disorder, including those with severe disorders (addiction).

NIDA Notes

Study Links Medical Marijuana Dispensaries to Reduced Mortality From Opioid Overdose

May 17, 2016 | During the past 2 decades, nearly half of U.S. states implemented policies that sanction marijuana use for medical purposes. Researchers have been hard put, however, to draw firm conclusions about...

NIDA Notes

Sensation Seeking Promotes Initiation, Impulsivity Promotes Escalation of Substance Use

May 16, 2016 | Young teens who avidly seek novel and intense sensations are slightly more likely than their more cautious peers to initiate substance use, NIDA-supported researchers report. However, these teens are not...

NIDA Notes

Dual Regimen Aims To Shorten Medication-Assisted Therapy

May 10, 2016 | Dr. Gerardo Gonzalez of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, and colleagues were prompted to develop the regimen by concerns about the practicality and safety of treating young adults...

Nora's Blog

New Regulations on Flavored Tobacco Products and e-Cigarettes Will Protect Public Health

May 5, 2016 | Despite great successes in reducing tobacco use over the past five decades, smoking leads to more than 480,000 deaths in the United States annually and remains the number-one preventable cause...

NIDA Notes

Narrative of Discovery: In Search of a Medication To Treat Methamphetamine Addiction, Part 2

April 12, 2016 | While investigating the potential of a compound called lobeline to treat nicotine addiction, pharmacologist Dr. Linda Dwoskin had an insight. She saw that lobeline is like methamphetamine in one way...

Nora's Blog

The CDC Provides Crucial New Guidance on Opioids and Pain

April 6, 2016 | Although these medications have a legitimate and important role in the treatment of severe acute pain and some severe chronic pain conditions, it is clear that they are also overprescribed...

Nora's Blog

A Major Step Forward for Addiction Medicine

March 31, 2016 | A major milestone was reached on March 14, 2016, when the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) formally announced recognition of the field of Addiction Medicine as a medical subspecialty.

NIDA Notes

Testing a Prospective Medication To Help People Avoid Relapse

March 28, 2016 | This NIDA Notes animation depicts a basic experiment that researchers use to test whether a prospective new medication might help people avoid relapse to an addictive drug. In such experiments...

NIDA Notes

Gene Variant Is Associated With Reduced HIV Transmission

March 21, 2016 | Researchers have identified a gene variant that appears to partially shield people whose behaviors entail high risk for exposure to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) from becoming infected. The finding could...

Nora's Blog

Intervening Early to Prevent Substance Use Disorders

March 9, 2016 | The brain is an organ that adapts in both short- and long-term ways to its environment, and prevention science over the past few decades has shown clearly that a person’s...

Science Highlight

Marijuana Use Raises SUD Risk

February 24, 2016 | The health impacts of marijuana are currently the subject of significant public debate. Past data have suggested a link to numerous mental health outcomes including substance use disorders (SUDs), mood...

NIDA Notes

Protein Diminishes Cocaine Reward and Cocaine-Related Learning in Animals

February 5, 2016 | A protein that is naturally present in the brain reduces laboratory animals' attraction to environments in which they have experienced cocaine's effects. The recent finding could point the way to...

Science Highlight

Factors Predicting the Transition from Prescription Opioids to Heroin

February 2, 2016 | Prescription opioid misuse remains one of America’s biggest drug problems. In recent years the numbers of people misusing prescription pain relievers has leveled off, however, the number of people dying...

Nora's Blog

NIDA's 2016-2020 Strategic Plan

February 2, 2016 | Over the last four decades, NIDA-supported research has revolutionized our understanding of drug use and addiction, driving a new understanding of the neurobiological, genetic, epigenetic, social, and environmental factors that...

Nora's Blog

Saving a “Lost Generation”: The Need to Prevent Drug and Alcohol Abuse in Midlife

January 28, 2016 | By Dr. Nora Volkow (NIDA) and Dr. George Koob (NIAAA)- We have long expcted to see increasing substance use in middle and later life with the aging of baby boomers—a...

NIDA Notes

ED-Initiated Buprenorphine Outperforms Referral or SBIRT for ED Patients With Opioid Addiction

January 22, 2016 | Emergency department (ED) visits present prime opportunities to identify people with opioid addiction and start them on the way to recovery. That’s one conclusion supported by a recent NIDA-supported study...

Nora's Blog

Listening to the Dead

January 19, 2016 | Guest blog by Bill Williams - a reminder of the devastating and incomprehensible experiences faced by families who are fighting the disease of addiction.

NIDA Notes

Gene Transfer Therapy for Cocaine Addiction Passes Tests in Animals

January 14, 2016 | NIDA-supported researchers have shown that giving mice a modified version of a naturally occurring gene blocks cocaine’s stimulant effects without affecting the animals’ physiological or metabolic health.

Science Highlight

E-cigarette use associated with risk of relapse among former cigarette smokers

June 5, 2020 | This study has shown that among former smokers, use of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), including e-cigarettes and other e-products, is associated with increased chance of cigarette smoking relapse.