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Did COVID affect your use of alcohol? Tobacco? Marijuana? Here are 3 reasons why
When COVID emerged and lockdowns started, I had 5 bottles of wine on my shelf, normally about a month's supply. One year later, I still have one of those bottles left, albeit in dustier condition....
View ArticleThe tweet that ate my week
My typical Twitter output comprises an admixture of addiction research findings, health policy analyses and excruciating puns. I see Twitter as part diversion, part efficient method to learn what my...
View ArticleHow people with mental illness get left out of medical research studies
One of the enduring challenges of evidence-based medicine is that the characteristics of people who participate in clinical trials can differ markedly from those of patients who ultimately access the...
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Medical marijuana and the risk of painkiller overdose
After a study published this fall showed that that opioid overdoses (e.g., with painkillers such as Oxycontin) occur at lower rates in states with legalized medical marijuana, many people interpreted...
View ArticleIncreasing access to an anti-overdose drug
In the past decade, the U.S. has experienced a surge of fatal opioid overdoses, driven partly by increased heroin use but mostly by the greatly expanded availability of prescription medications (e.g....
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What the experience of Swedish snuff can teach us about e-cigarettes
A new study in JAMA Internal Medicine suggests that e-cigarettes don’t help tobacco smokers quit. This study will no doubt attract enormous attention because it relates to the hottest debate in...
View ArticleWe just had the best two months in the history of U.S. mental-health policy
For decades, descriptions of the status of U.S. mental health services have included references to service cuts, funding constraints and poor access to care. That makes it only more astonishing and...
View ArticleManaging primary care patients’ risky drinking
Centers for Disease Control Director Thomas Frieden, MD, wants more physicians to screen patients for risky alcohol consumption. From a public health viewpoint, this makes great sense. Even at levels...
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Breaking Good: How to wipe out meth labs
Earlier today I testified about methamphetamine laboratories to West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin’s Advisory Council on Substance Abuse. Like more than a dozen other states in the “meth belt,” my...
View ArticleThe disturbing trend of science by press release
The Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor and Time were among the respected media outlets that recently covered the sensational alleged scientific finding that Oreos are as addictive as cocaine....
View ArticleUpcoming Stanford Health Policy Forum to focus on mental illness
The horrifying mass murders at the Washington Navy Yard and Sandy Hook Elementary School were both committed by individuals with long-standing mental-health problems. The events galvanized a national...
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How police officers are tackling drug overdose
Drug overdose is now the most common cause of accidental death in the United States, primarily because of the vastly increased availability of pharmaceutical-grade opioids (e.g., Oxycodone, Vicodin)....
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Alcoholism: Not just a man’s problem
Updated 11:45 AM: Audio from the Forum show is now available here. *** When I first started working in alcoholism treatment programs 25 years ago, women were a rare sight. But as with every other...
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Quitting smoking for the baby you plan to have together
My best friend finally succeeded in his efforts to stop smoking when he experienced a highly motivating life change: Fatherhood. Likewise, many women discover that wanting to have a safe and healthy...
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Stopping criminal men from drinking reduces domestic violence
Living in London this year on sabbatical, I worked with the Mayor’s Office and Parliament on a law that gave courts the power to sentence alcohol-abusing criminals to a period of mandatory sobriety....
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How to prevent prescription-drug misuse among teens
The Medicine Abuse Project is being launched this week by a coalition of public-health, public-safety, governmental and private-sector organizations. The Project is a response to the past decade’s...
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Do opium and opioids increase mortality risk?
Overdose from prescription opioids (e.g., Oxycodone or Hydrocodone) has become one of the most common causes of accidental death in the United States. Two new articles in BMJ suggest that overdose is...
View ArticleCDC binge-drinking study demonstrates cell phones’ value in research
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s new finding that 38 million Americans engage in binge drinking is, quite appropriately, causing widespread alarm. But below that headline is an...
View ArticleThe wrong reason to lionize Christopher Hitchens
At a party last year I chanced to turn my head and see a famous person, about whom two things immediately impressed me: One, he was downing glasses of whisky at an alarming rate, and two, he looked...
View ArticleClinical trial research that knocked my socks on
Every once in a while, a colleague gives a research presentation that knocks your socks off. John Strang, MD, of Kings’ College London, gave one last week that had the reverse effect. Strang was...
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