The Latest News from Our Field

Some college campuses are seeing an increase in ‘drunkorexia,’ the act of restricting calories by day so students can drink alcohol at night without gaining weight.

A new law signed this week by Governor Sam Brownback of Kansas will require people arrested for the first time for drunk driving offenses to use ignition interlock devices on their cars. The law also requires the state to set up a central database of cases involving driving under the influence.

The skyrocketing growth in the number of Americans addicted to prescription drugs is due to easy accessibility and the diminished perception of risk, the Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy told a Senate subcommittee on Tuesday.

New ‘dissolvable’ tobacco products that look like Tic Tacs, toothpicks and breath strips are being test-marketed in Denver. Public health officials are concerned that the products look like candy, making them attractive to young people.

The maker of the popular Tilt malt beverage is lowering the drink’s alcohol content from 12 percent to 8 percent for a 24-ounce container. Anheuser-Busch announced that the new drinks will be sold starting this summer.

More than $100 million in funding is available for up to 75 Community Transformation Grants that aim to reduce chronic diseases through strategies including tobacco-free living.

West Huddleston of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals explains that National Drug Court Month is a powerful demonstration of what has become our most successful justice program. More than a decade of research has established that drug courts significantly reduce substance abuse and drug-related crime and produce greater cost benefits than any other criminal justice strategy.

Methadone, long used to treat heroin addiction, is now becoming a popular tool in the fight against prescription drug abuse in Florida. A state review last year concluded that more methadone clinics and satellite offices will be needed to deal with the growing number of patients addicted to prescription drugs.

New York is the latest state to ban bath salts. New York State’s Health Commissioner has banned the sale of bath salts, effective immediately, the Associated Press reports.

A new survey finds many New Jersey parents recognize that the main source for alcohol and prescription drugs may be their own home. More than 45 percent of parents surveyed said their children are getting alcohol from home, and three-quarters of parents said children get prescription and over-the-counter drugs from their own home or from a friend’s home.

Two leading substance abuse experts from Columbia University and The Partnership at Drugfree.org will offer professionals and parents the opportunity to learn more about teen mental health as it relates to risky teen behaviors, like substance use, and the proper methods to identify the most prevalent risk factors in teens.

A new ad campaign for the smokeless tobacco brand Camel Snus starts as expanded antismoking laws take effect Monday in New York City. Tobacco maker Reynolds American Inc. is taking out full-page ads for the brand in newspapers including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and the New York Daily News.

Many drugs sold as ‘legal highs’ online do not contain the ingredients advertised, a new study finds. A British chemist purchased products marketed as research chemicals, bath salts and plant food that were clearly marketed toward recreational drug users. He found that most didn’t contain the supposed active ingredient that was advertised.

A bill introduced in the Wisconsin Senate would make it illegal for an adult to purchase any tobacco product with the intention of giving it to a child. Current state laws prohibit adults from buying cigarettes for children, but allow adults to buy and give other tobacco products to children including dissolvable pellets, sticks and strips, as well as roll-your-own forms. Many of these products come in candy flavors, wrapped in brightly colored packaging.

Long-term smoking raises the risk of invasive lung and colon cancer in women who are already at increased risk of breast cancer due to family history of other factors, according to a new study. Smoking also raises the risk of breast cancer for these women to levels even higher than for nonsmoking women with a family history of breast cancer, the study found.

'We had no idea that things were this bad.' I hear that so often from parents when they find out their teen has been struggling with a mental health disorder. As parents, we are certain we know our kids better than anyone else. But mental health and substance abuse problems can be confusing and hard to detect, explains Laurie Flynn, Executive Director, TeenScreen National Center for Mental Health Checkups at Columbia University.

Suicide attempts, in which drugs played a role, jumped 49 percent among women ages 50 and older from 2005 to 2009, according to a new federal report. The report, prepared by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, found that 16,757 women 50 and older had a drug-related suicide attempt in 2009, compared with 11,235 in 2005.

Smokers are 30 percent more likely to die from colon cancer and 50 percent more likely to die of any cause than people who don’t smoke, a new study suggests.

Laws regarding involuntary commitment for substance abuse vary widely among states, according to a study presented at the American Psychiatric Association meeting this week.

Smokers are four times as likely as nonsmokers to develop a form of eye disease called age-related macular degeneration that can lead to blindness, new research indicates.

Stimulant drugs designed to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder are not as likely as prescription painkillers to be diverted for non-medical purposes, a survey of 10,000 adults, ages 18 to 49, finds. Almost 25 percent of those surveyed said they had used prescription opioids for non-medical purposes, compared with about 8 percent who said they used stimulant medications for non-medical reasons.

Some Illinois prison inmates have to wait years for substance abuse treatment because of the state’s growing prison population, according to a prison watchdog group.

Abuse of recreational designer drugs known as “bath salts” has hit Michigan hard, sending 65 people to emergency rooms over the past six months and resulting in at least one death, according to a report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has announced the availability of the 2011 Campaign for Social Inclusion Awards. These awards fund selected statewide peer-run organizations across the United States to promote social inclusion on state and local levels, and to counter the negative perceptions, attitudes and beliefs associated with mental health and/or substance use problems.

The number of older Americans who are seeking treatment for substance abuse is growing. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reports that treatment admissions doubled in adults age 50 and over between 1992 and 2008, according to The Associated Press. Experts predict this trend will continue as baby boomers get older.