Drug traffickers across the United States seem to be using the image of President Donald Trump to boost their sales. According to a news release of the Indiana State Police, the department arrested 129 people as part of a series of drug busts, and recovered “Trump-shaped” ecstasy pills. According to the police, the orange pills […]

Some Air Force service members at F.E. Warren Air Force Base have been accused of using lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) or acid off duty, according to the records obtained by the Associated Press (AP). What led to the discovery was a slip up on the social media by one of the airmen – in March […]

It has been found that the rewarding effects of addictive drugs mostly depend on shared substrates. And more often than not, it’s the environment in which a drug is consumed that happens to influence the rewarding effects. A recent study, published in the JNeurosci in May 2018, came out with an interesting observation that drug […]

As the opioid epidemic continues to ravage the United States claiming thousands of innocent lives year after year, the fight against prescription drug abuse is gaining a new momentum. Various measures have been taken to combat the crisis that claims 115 lives each day – issuing opioid prescription guidelines for pain management, and urging physicians […]

Contingency management, a behavioral therapy used for treating substance abuse, encourages behavioral changes like abstinence from alcohol and drugs by providing stimulus like control and positive reinforcement to meet the treatment goals. To reinforce abstinence from addictive substances, various drug-screening procedures are used and the goal is to detect all the instances of target drug. […]

In downtown Indianapolis, up to 25 individuals reportedly overdosed on synthetic drugs in a shelter for homeless men in early February 2018. Two individuals were arrested for allegedly providing bath salts or spice, which may have been laced with phenylcyclohexylpiperidine (PCP), to the inmates of the Wheeler Mission homeless shelter. In late February 2018, in […]

A Manchester University (MU) assistant professor has received the New Investigator Award, which consists of a $10,000 grant, to conduct research on the metabolism of bath salts. Diane Calinski, who teaches pharmaceutical sciences and pharmacogenomics at the MU, has been awarded the grant for the “Evaluation of Cytochrome P450-Mediated Metabolism of the Synthetic Cathinones.” Funded […]

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has blamed media and “permissive rhetoric” for drug misuse issues in the United States. He said this while delivering a speech on Feb.6, 2018 at the Heritage Foundation event. Sessions also talked about his marijuana and drug enforcement moves as part of a list of things being done to “restore the […]

Contingency management therapy, a path-breaking treatment used for substance use disorders (SUDs), is based on the finding that healthy habits can be developed by rewarding or reinforcing such behaviors. The commonly used reinforcement methods include tangible incentives like vouchers, prizes, free housing and direct payments that assist in developing target behaviors in patients, such as […]

Lenora Cline, 88, has literally been confined to her bed in a nursing home in Whittier, California. Struggling with Alzheimer’s disease, Lenora needs constant attention and care, prompting the nursing home staff to put her on powerful antipsychotic medications without prior intimation. However, when Laurel Cline, who visits her twice a day, questioned the medical […]