The Latest News from Our Field

The Drug Enforcement Administration has proposed new regulations to give the public more options for disposing of unwanted prescription drugs, such as painkillers and sedatives.

The U.S. Navy has released a video that demonstrates the disturbing effects of bath salts, ABC News reports. The video is the latest weapon in the Navy’s effort to combat synthetic drug use.

Registration is open for Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA)’s 23rd annual National Leadership Forum, to be held February 4-7 in National Harbor, Maryland. The CADCA Forum is the nation’s largest training conference for community prevention and treatment professionals and researchers.

As opioids become more difficult and expensive to abuse, heroin use is on the rise in Florida, according to law enforcement officials.

The opioid-overdose antidote naloxone can save lives and money when distributed to heroin users, a new study finds.

Drug companies that manufacture the painkillers OxyContin and Opana are trying to block generic drug makers’ efforts to produce cheaper versions of the drugs. They argue these newer drugs will not have the tamper-resistant designs used in making the brand-name pills, according to The New York Times.

Some people in Colorado celebrated New Year’s Eve in private marijuana clubs, which were allowed for the first time under the state’s new recreational marijuana law.

Energy drinks, under investigation by the Food and Drug Administration after reports of deaths and serious injuries, offer little or no benefit to consumers, experts say.

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Almost one-quarter of the nation’s high school seniors say they have smoked marijuana in the past month, and just over 36 percent admit to using the drug in the past year, according to the 2012 Monitoring the Future Survey.

For some, the holidays are the happiest time of year, however it can also be a challenging time for those in recovery worried about relapse, explains Marvin D. Seppala, MD, Chief Medical Officer of Hazelden.

People who use marijuana in Colorado and Washington state, which have legalized the recreational use of the drug, should not be a top priority for federal law enforcement officials, President Obama told ABC News’ Barbara Walters.

Treatment admissions for people addicted to both benzodiazepines and narcotic pain relievers jumped 569.7 percent between 2000 and 2010, according to a new government report. Overall, substance abuse treatment admissions increased 4 percent over the same period.

More than 86,000 children in Kentucky are being raised by someone other than a biological parent, and prescription drug abuse is largely to blame, community leaders say.

Walgreens has been ordered to pay $16.5 million in damages, to settle a lawsuit that accused the company of illegally dumping pharmaceutical and biohazardous waste in California.

A task force of doctors, legislators and public health advocates in Florida are set to make recommendations to reduce the number of newborns exposed to opioids.

A controversial surgical procedure being studied in China attempts to cure addiction by destroying parts of the brain’s “pleasure centers,” Time.com reports.

The number of people in Maryland who have switched from abusing prescription drugs to heroin is on the rise, resulting in an increase in heroin-related deaths, according to The Baltimore Sun.

Maine public officials are reporting four cases of serious infections that resulted from people injecting the synthetic drugs known as bath salts.

The U.S. military has introduced a number of measures aimed at reducing binge drinking, NBC News reports. Service members and addiction specialists say alcohol abuse in the military is widespread.

Now that recreational marijuana is legal in Colorado and Washington, employers in those states must determine how to handle employees who fail a drug test after using the drug on their own time.

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi signed an emergency rule this week that outlaws 22 new synthetic drugs. The outlawed drugs are various forms of baths salts, or synthetic marijuana, known as K2 or Spice, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

A Boston-based company is trying to raise $50,000 to produce cups and straws it says will help reduce date rape, according to ABC News.

Pain management education must help prescribers focus less on patient satisfaction, and more on their functional improvement, according to Sherry Green, the CEO of the National Alliance for Model State Drug Laws.

Marijuana is a popular topic on the White House’s “We the People” online petition program, The Washington Post reports. Currently the second-most popular petition, with 66,000 signatures, asks President Obama to remove marijuana from the federal Controlled Substances Act.