The Latest News from Our Field

Technology is the driving force behind the Treatment Research Institute’s latest project: implementing and evaluating Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) in New York high schools later this year.

CVS Caremark announced Wednesday it will stop selling tobacco products by October 1, the Los Angeles Times reports. CVS, the nation’s second-largest drugstore chain, will be the first national pharmacy company to stop selling tobacco.

The addiction treatment medication buprenorphine was found in actor Philip Seymour Hoffman’s apartment, along with 50 bags of heroin and a variety of prescription drugs, according to New York City detectives.

Fatal car crashes that involved marijuana tripled in the past decade, a new study concludes. One in nine drivers involved in a fatal crash tests positive for marijuana, according to the Columbia University researchers.

Low-level drug criminals with long mandatory sentences should ask President Obama for early release from prison, the Justice Department advises.

Cheap heroin is easy to find in New York City, according to law enforcement officials who spoke after actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead with dozens of packages of heroin in his apartment.

A new government report finds fewer teens are abusing prescription painkillers or smoking.

Parents, schools and some doctors are voicing concern about children’s access to marijuana-laced snacks, which are becoming increasingly popular in states where recreational or medical marijuana is legal.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week unveiled its latest anti-smoking campaign, which features real people talking about smoking in tough and often frightening terms.

Attorney General Eric Holder told a Senate committee Wednesday that all drugs, including alcohol, are “potentially harmful.” He was responding to a question about whether he agreed with President Obama’s recent comment that smoking marijuana was less dangerous than alcohol “in terms of its impact on the individual consumer.”

A group that opposes marijuana legalization has placed billboards around the New York-New Jersey area in advance of Sunday’s Super Bowl, the Seattle Post Intelligencer reports. Earlier this week, a group advocating for legalization placed billboards on the highway leading to MetLife Stadium, where the game will be played.

A new study links alcohol consumption with an increased risk of skin cancer, BBC News reports. The ethanol in alcohol is converted to a compound called acetaldehyde in the body, which may make the skin more sensitive to harmful ultraviolet rays.

Next week, more than 2,500 community leaders will gather in the Washington, D.C. area for Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America's (CADCA) 24th annual National Leadership Forum.

Top headlines of the week from Friday, January 24- Thursday, January 30, 2014.

This month as the 50th anniversary report on smoking and health was released by the U.S. Surgeon General, Legacy President and CEO Robin Koval calls attention to the man who helped strike the match that led to this landmark report.

The Drug Enforcement Administration has joined an investigation into the source of a batch of heroin that killed 22 people in western Pennsylvania, The Wall Street Journal reports. The heroin involved in some of the deaths contained the synthetic opiate fentanyl, often used during surgery.

Five billboards with pro-marijuana messages have appeared along New Jersey highways leading to MetLife Stadium, the venue hosting Sunday’s Super Bowl. One of the billboards reads: “MARIJUANA: Safer than alcohol…and football.”

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday unanimously ruled a heroin dealer cannot be held liable for a client’s death and given a longer sentence if heroin only contributed to the death, and was not necessarily the only cause.

New studies suggest alcohol use is more likely than marijuana use to lead to violence between college students in a relationship.

While momentum to legalize marijuana at the state level is growing, a number of towns and counties are moving to ban legal sales of the drug, The New York Times reports.

The economic impact of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, which requires larger employer-based insurance plans to cover psychiatric illnesses and substance use disorders in the same way they do illnesses such as cancer and multiple sclerosis, has been minimal, a new study finds.

A program that provides college freshmen with personalized feedback on their drinking patterns can be effective in reducing their drinking, a new study suggests.

E-cigarettes are an increasingly common sight in rural county jails, according to The New York Times. Sheriffs are selling the devices to inmates to help control mood swings, and to increase revenue.

Emergency rooms in Denver, Colorado reported a surge in visits related to synthetic marijuana in the late summer and early fall, according to the Los Angeles Times. Experts say similar patterns may emerge in other parts of the country.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse is releasing new resources to help parents, health care providers and substance abuse treatment specialists treat teens who are struggling with drug abuse. The resources also provide advice on identifying and interacting with teens who may be at risk.