Published since 1884 by the Society for the Study of Addiction.
This is a quick summary of the main discovery for each research paper we have published, organized issue by issue. The article titles are in bold and each key finding is below the article title. Use the filters below to isolate key findings for each issue or search for a particular topic across all of this year's issues.
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In the USA, men born between 1976 and 1985, and women born between 1981 and 1985 drink more heavily than those born earlier or later. Link to Abstract
In Norway and Sweden, as the total population level of alcohol consumption increases or decreases, so does drink driving. Link to Abstract
In British Columbia, Canada, between 2002 and 2009, increases in the minimum price of alcohol were associated with decreased alcohol-attributable mortality, while increases in the density of private liquor stores was associated with increased alcohol-attributable mortality. Link to Abstract
Marked decreases in HIV and HCV incidence in Amsterdam since 1990 could be attributable largely to changes in the population of injecting drug users arising from HIV-related deaths. Link to Abstract
For depressed, cannabis-dependent patients, the extended release form of the antidepressant venlafaxine does not appear to reduce depression and may increase cannabis use. Link to Abstract
Tamper-resistant forms of taptentadol (pain relief) tablets do not appear to be well-liked by people who tamper regularly with extended-release oxycodone tablets. Link to Abstract
Some inhalant abusers experience severe and persistent neurological impairments, suggesting permanent damage possibly attributable to lead poisoning. Link to Abstract
E-cigarettes are used primarily for smoking cessation, but for a longer duration than nicotine replacement therapy, and users believe them to be safer than smoking. Link to Abstract
Most veterans in Veterans Health Administration substance use disorders residential treatment programs appear to use tobacco, yet only one in ten receives a documented ICD-9 tobacco dependence diagnosis and pharmacotherapy while in treatment. Link to Abstract
Adding motivational interviewing counselling to nicotine patches does not significantly increase smoking rates among homeless smokers at 26-week follow-up. Link to Abstract
Clinic-level coaching appears to improve waiting time and increase the number of new patients in outpatient addiction clinics in the United States. Link to Abstract
We are moving to a phase in the science of addiction where it is not enough to know whether an intervention is effective; it is essential to be able to identify its ingredients to build our understanding of why it works or does not so that its generalisability can be assessed and interventions can be improved upon Link to Abstract
In New Zealand, the adoption of local policies to reduce alcohol-related harm can be helped by 1) competitive local government elections around alcohol issues, 2) preventing 'gate-keepers' from setting the policy agenda, and 3) fewer legislative restrictions by central government. Link to Abstract
Cellphone technology may be useful for applying contingency management (which uses tangible incentives to reinforce abstinence) to treatment for alcohol problems. Link to Abstract
About 40% of the world\'s adult population consumes alcohol, and the average consumption per drinker is 17.1 litres per year. Eastern Europe and Southern sub-Saharan Africa had the most detrimental pattern of drinking scores in 2005, while drinkers in Eastern and Central Europe and Southern and West sub-Saharan Africa consumed the most alcohol. Link to Abstract
Undiagnosed attention deficit disorder may be common in psychostimulant users. Link to Abstract
Peer-based social network interventions can change injection drug users' injection risk behaviours. Link to Abstract
Misuse of midazolam, a benzodiazepine often used as a premedication for sedation, is increasing among injecting drug users in Bangkok and appears to be used primarily as a substitute for heroin. Link to Abstract
There does not appear to be a link between low levels of D2/D3 dopamine receptors and pathological gambling. Link to Abstract
Adding the antidepressant nortriptyline to stop-smoking behavioural support and nicotine replacement therapy does not appear to improve long-term abstinence rates in male prisoners. Link to Abstract
Nicotine gum enhances some aspects of cognitive performance in smokers who have abstained for as little as 2 hours. Link to Abstract
Reminding smokers to think about health, even just in general terms, may help them improve self-control and smoke fewer cigarettes. Link to Abstract
A history of childhood sexual abuse is a risk factor for use of cigarettes and cannabis and a very strong predictor of starting to drink at an early age. Link to Abstract
From studies available in the literature, use of prescribed opioid medications for chronic pain conditions appears only rarely to be associated with development of addiction. Link to Abstract
In Melbourne, acute alcohol intoxication cases requiring ambulance, emergency department and hospital in-patient treatment increase substantially on the day before public holidays and other major social events. Link to Abstract
Among US adults, factors associated with giving up drinking appear to change over the life course. Link to Abstract
Among rural women in South Africa, a motivational interviewing intervention reduced the risk of alcohol-exposed pregnancy through risky drinking, ineffective contraception, or both. Link to Abstract
Cannabis use predicts psychosis vulnerability among Dutch adolescents, and vice versa. Link to Abstract
In Scotland, injection drug use in adults is associated strongly with markers of prior childhood adversity, particularly not living with both parents as well as early conduct problems such as exclusion from school and criminal behaviour. Link to Abstract
Compared with placebo, aripiprazole does not significantly reduce methamphetamine use among actively using, methamphetamine-dependent adults in the USA. Link to Abstract
In the Irish health service, decreasing methadone doses for pregnant, opioid-dependent women does not appear to reduce neonatal abstinence syndrome in their babies. Link to Abstract
Ephedrone patients may have similar deficits in information gathering and decision making to opiate dependent patients, with no corresponding deficits in working memory and risk taking. Link to Abstract
Among urban male youth in Maryland, USA, development in impulsivity is associated strongly with problem and at-risk gambling in adolescence. Link to Abstract
In the USA, three subtypes of disordered gambling can be identified, ranging from low to high levels of gambling severity and psychopathology. Link to Abstract
In low- and middle-income countries, a 10% increase in gross domestic product per capita appears to increase the odds of a young person being a current smoker by at least 2.5%. Link to Abstract
ESCAPE, a brief, tailored stop-smoking intervention delivered by post in the UK, appears to increase the rate at which smokers try to quit but abstinence rates do not seem to be increased. Link to Abstract
In the UK, graphic imagery on cigarette packets increases the attention paid to the accompanying text message about health risks. Link to Abstract
Non-drinking adolescents who watch their parents drink appear to form memory associations about alcohol, which in turn appear able to trigger them to start drinking. Link to Abstract
Despite the Supreme Court of Canada's recent support of North America\'s first supervised injection facility (Insite), additional court action may be required to establish a stable legal and policy basis for similar facilities in Canada. Link to Abstract
Individuals who are more highly transported into stories seem to show greater attitude, belief and behavior change, which may affect how they react to tobacco use in movies. Link to Abstract
Adolescents who have poor relationships with their parents and reach puberty early may be at risk for greater substance use than adolescents who have good parental relationships and mature on time or late. Link to Abstract
Coping drinkers (people who drink to reduce negative moods) and enhancement drinkers (people who drink to increase positive moods) do not appear to form two distinct groups. Link to Abstract
Weakness in working memory, the brain function that allows us to deliberate before acting, predicts both the initiation and the escalation of alcohol use in adolescents ages 10 to 15. Link to Abstract
Children from higher-income households in England appear to be at greater risk of some types of adolescent alcohol problems than children in lower-income households. Link to Abstract
In Germany, there appears to be an increase in use of some extremely potent synthetic cannabinoids. Acute toxic symptoms associated with their use include agitation, seizures, hypertension, vomiting, and low blood potassium. Link to Abstract
In Colorado, USA, drugs associated with homicide (marijuana, cocaine and amphetamines) have a stronger association among males, while drugs associated with suicide (antidepressants and opiates) have a stronger association among females. Link to Abstract
While the peak holiday season in Australia is perceived as a period of increased drug use, the increase in use is not uniform for all drugs and geographical areas. Link to Abstract
People in opioid maintenance treatment may have trouble reading social situations and recognising other people's emotions. Link to Abstract
Pathological gambling can be diagnosed without requiring the patient to have committed illegal acts. Thus reducing the threshold for diagnosis from five to four criteria results in more consistent diagnoses relative to the current classification system. Link to Abstract
Compared with non-pathological gamblers, pathological gamblers have more gamblers, smokers and drinkers in their social networks, and have closer relationships with other gamblers. These social networks may reinforce addictive behaviour. Link to Abstract
Gaming addiction does not appear to be widespread among adolescents and adults in Germany. Link to Abstract
In the Netherlands, providing stop-smoking treatments for free seems to get more people to try to quit smoking and improves public health. Link to Abstract
At levels of low tobacco dependence, black smokers seem to take in more nicotine and carcinogens per individual cigarette than white smokers. Link to Abstract
Smokers interested in quitting who are assigned to an internet- or mobile phone-based quit-smoking program may be more likely to quit for at least 6 months than those directed to an information website. Link to Abstract
Swedish adolescents with low status among peers are more likely to become smokers by the time they reach adulthood. Link to Abstract
Among adolescents in the USA, smokers tend to date and make friends with other smokers. Link to Abstract
Smoking increases number of days off work because of illness far more than previously thought. Link to Abstract
Acamprosate seems to be more effective than naltrexone in promoting alcohol abstinence. Naltrexone seems to be more effective than acamprosate in reducing heavy drinking and craving. Both medications appear to work better when participants are detoxified and abstinent when treatment begins. Link to Abstract
People with a history of major depression have a harder time staying off cigarettes after smoking cessation treatment than people without this history. Link to Abstract
Living close to a bar appears to increase risky alcohol behaviour. Link to Abstract
A web-based screening and brief intervention programme reduced hazardous and harmful drinking among Māori students. Link to Abstract
U.S. states that have a monopoly over liquor sales (via state-operated alcohol stores) appear to have slightly higher liquor prices than states that sell alcohol via privately owned licensed retailers. Link to Abstract
People in the U.S. who are asked about their drinking during the past 12 months, rather than the past 30 days, provide higher estimates of current alcohol use. The 30-day measure may underestimate national drinking patterns and fail to identify individuals who would benefit from alcohol misuse services. Link to Abstract
Among methadone maintenance therapy (MMT) clinics in Sichuan, China, the MMT CARE intervention, which trains MMT service providers, can improve providers\' treatment knowledge and their success with clients. Link to Abstract
In Norway, women in opioid maintenance treatment use more prescription drugs before and during pregnancy than do women in the general population. Link to Abstract
Among people receiving treatment for drug dependence, hospital discharge marks the start of a period of higher vulnerability to drug-related death. Link to Abstract
In the United Kingdom between 1983 and 2007, the number of deaths associated with volatile substance abuse peaked in the early 1990s and fell to its lowest level in the mid-2000s. Age at death increased over the time period, deaths involving glues decreased, and deaths involving gas fuels rose. Link to Abstract
When given alongside behavioural counselling, nicotine patches may not help smokers in certain low-income countries to quit. Link to Abstract
Adolescent smokers whose bodies clear nicotine slowly smoke more cigarettes per day and show greater nicotine dependence than those with faster nicotine metabolism. Link to Abstract
Removing brand imagery from cigarette packets may increase visual attention to health warnings among occasional and experimental adolescent smokers, but not among daily adolescent smokers. Link to Abstract
Non-smokers exposed to second-hand smoke may suffer impairment in ability to recall plans they have made. Link to Abstract
Treating a family member for alcohol dependence substantially reduces the financial burden of that disease on the rest of the family. Link to Abstract
Contrary to what has been claimed by some tobacco control researchers, use of stop-smoking medicines such as varenicline and nicotine replacement therapy is associated with a higher probability of quitting in the general population compared with trying to quit unaided - once important confounding factors such as level of nicotine dependence are accounted for. Link to Abstract
There is strong evidence that physical activity acutely reduces cigarette craving. Link to Abstract
Mood swings, improved senses of smell and taste, and reduced sore throat can be added to the list of effects reliably observbed following smoking cessation. Link to Abstract
Changes in price of alcohol relative to income are more important in determining population levels of alcohol consumption than price relative to other goods and service Link to Abstract
People with alcohol use disorder appear to have trouble recognizing emotions conveyed by faces, voices and music. Link to Abstract
Programmes that address serving of alcohol to intoxicated customers are effecvtive in reducing alcohol-related assaults. Link to Abstract
As in other countries, drinking alcohol is an important cause of injury in the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Guyana, Nicaragua and Panama. Link to Abstract
More than half of fatally injured drivers in the United States between 2005 and 2009 had been using alcohol and/or other drugs, and approximately 20% had been using two or more drugs at one time. Link to Abstract
Depression from whatever cause appears to increase vulnerability to relapse in people recovering from substance use disorder. Link to Abstract
Cannabis use in adolescence is associated with anxiety and depression persisting in late adulthood irrespective of whether cannabis use also persists. Link to Abstract
Even new users of ecstasy show some impairments in memory. Link to Abstract
Injecting drug users who are re-exposed to traumatic events tend to increase their cocaine use and become more interested in receiving treatment for their substance use disorder. Link to Abstract
Use of opioid maintenance therapy during pregnancy appears to impair goal-directed eye movements in 4-year-old offspring. Link to Abstract
Being subject to physical abuse when young and level of education are related to the order in which women in Mexican cities starting injecting drugs and become sex workers. Link to Abstract
In the US, young people who start by smoking menthol cigarettes appear to have a greater risk of going on to become nicotine dependent. Link to Abstract
Actively recruiting smokers into quit attempts by telephone helplines appears to engage a significant number of smokers who had not been intending to stop in the near future and many of these go on to quit. Link to Abstract
Smokers whose thinking is more directed toward the future rather than the present appear to be more likely to stop smoking. Link to Abstract
Concerns that use of the stop-smoking medicine varenicline may increase serious neuropsychiatric symptoms do not appear to be borne out. Link to Abstract
Smoking, alcohol use, and marijuana use are associated with a greater incidence of self-harm in young and middle-aged Australian adults. Link to Abstract
