Featured Articles

Smokeless Tobacco Poses Challenge for Stop-Smoking Advocates
Smokeless tobacco use carries serious health risks, but it's not as dangerous as smoking, and some people have used it to help them quit cigarettes. That leaves some health experts torn between the desire to see people stop smoking and advocating an alternative that still may be deadly.

OxyContin...Potential Fast Track To Addiction
Diversion and abuse of the prescription pain reliever OxyContin has become a major problem. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) reports that, in the United States, oxycodone products, including OxyContin, are frequently abused pharmaceuticals.

Drugs and Memory
Researchers say that drugs may create "extreme" memories by overstimulating the brain's dopamine system. When drugs cause an overabundance of dopamine it may cause the brain to "overlearn," creating a memory of drugs as "good."

Screening For Alcohol Abuse and Alcohol-Related Problems in College Populations
New-found independence can sometimes be dangerous: Alcohol use and abuse among college students is a serious cause for concern. Many students are under the legal drinking age and many engage in heavy episodic, or binge, drinking. There are a variety of simple screening methods that can help identify those students at greatest risk for alcohol problems so that preventative steps can be taken before it's too late.

Children Born to Prenatal Smokers More Likely to Smoke Later in Life
Nicotine crossing the placenta and affecting the brain of the unborn child may explain why children of women who smoke during pregnancy tend to become smokers themselves, Reuters reported Nov. 27.

Suicide Tied to Alcohol Intake
The more alcohol an individual drinks, the more the risk of suicide grows, according to a researcher at Canada's Center for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).

Alcohol, Drugs Still Play Key Role in Defining 'Fun' Colleges
From the Princeton Review to CollegeHumor.com, the availability of alcohol and other drugs remains a key measure of a college's "fun" quotient, the Washington Post reported Jan. 3.