Substance Abuse News

Symptoms of alcoholism make it more difficult for some people to regularly take the prescription drug naltrexone, which could help treat their disease, a researcher at Oregon State University has found.

How much alcohol a person drinks is strongly linked to how much their peers drink—and not just among teens and young adults. A new study of mature adults, published in Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research, has found that adults’ social connections influence a person’s drinking, both contemporaneously and over time. And, an individual’s social network is more influential in changing their drinking behavior over time than other factors, such as their occupation or smoking.

Hazardous and binge drinking are becoming more prevalent in older people, most notably women, according to a large study of alcohol use and aging in two Nordic countries that may illuminate similar trends in other Western populations Alcohol use typically declines with age, partly because of physiological changes and accumulating health issues that amplify the risks. Nevertheless, drinking among older adults, especially women, has increased in recent decades and now commonly exceeds lower-risk drinking guidelines.

Almost 1 in 10 workers in their 30s uses alcohol, marijuana or hard drugs like cocaine while on the job in the United States, a study has found. The risk for substance use among young employees was highest in the food preparation/service industry and in safety-sensitive occupations including construction – a sector linked in previous research with a high risk for drug overdose deaths. Based on their prior studies of workplace strategies related to employee substance use, the researchers say these new findings suggest comprehensive substance use policies and supportive interventions could improve safety and help reduce workers' misuse of alcohol and drugs.

Alcohol is a leading risk factor for death and disease worldwide, and is associated with nearly one in 10 deaths in people aged 15-49 years old, according to a Global Burden of Disease study published in The Lancet that estimates levels of alcohol use and health effects in 195 countries between 1990 to 2016.

A drug used to treat spasticity was touted as a 'wonder drug' for alcohol use disorders, but researchers found it is no more effective than a placebo for reducing alcohol consumption and alcohol cravings.

Alcohol-related cirrhosis patients are sicker, costlier and often female. More than one-third of cirrhosis cases are related to alcohol, a seven-year national study of more than 100 million privately insured people has found.

Some prevention campaigns aimed at stopping young drinkers from risky drinking habits can actually backfire if not worded properly. Campaigns designed to stop young people "bolting" drinks can be ineffective and can even make them more likely to do it, new research suggests.

A study from researchers at Columbia University Irving Medical Center found that binge drinking impairs working memory in the adolescent brain. The study explains why teenagers who binge drink are 15 times more likely to become alcoholics during adulthood.

Stronger alcohol policies protect young people from dying in crashes caused by drunk driving according to researchers at Boston Medical Center. The study, which is published online in the journal Pediatrics, supports the importance of comprehensive alcohol control policies to reduce the number of young people who die in alcohol-related crashes.