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Drug safety and effectiveness, pharmaceutical pricing and policy, antibiotics and antimicrobial resistance, and more

Drugs Headlines

Explore the latest public health research and insights about drugs.   

Nearly One-Third of U.S. Adults Know Someone Who’s Died of Drug Overdose

The survey also finds ‘overdose loss’ bolsters recognition of addiction as an important policy issue that spans party lines.

Fake Drugs, Real Dangers

As counterfeit medications proliferate, researchers work to alert doctors and patients to the risks.

Expanding Methadone Access in Correctional Facilities

On March 28, 2024, the Johns Hopkins Center for Mental Health and Addiction Policy and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy hosted a forum about new rules and federal initiatives expanding methadone access for persons who are incarcerated—part of a sweeping effort to preventfentanyl- and other opioid-related overdose deaths, reduce recidivism and increase equity post-incarceration.

HPM Faculty Member Jeromie Ballreich, PhD, MHS, testifies before House Ways and Means Committee

On Tuesday, February 6, Jeromie Ballreich, PhD, testified before the House Ways and Means Committee, addressing the critical issue of chronic drug shortages in the United States. He highlighted the complexity of factors contributing to shortages and proposed four policy solution sets for Congress to consider.

COVID Rebound Can Happen Whether or Not You Take Paxlovid

Some people recover from COVID only to have their symptoms return a few days later. That doesn’t surprise virologists.

What to Know About Ketamine

Following a recent high-profile death, ketamine—for decades used as a popular party drug—came under public scrutiny for its use as a treatment for everything from psychiatric illnesses to autoimmune diseases.

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Drugs Faculty Experts

 Looking for prominent public health experts in the field of drugs? They’re here at the Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Joshua M. Sharfstein

Joshua Sharfstein, MD, works to develop and promote public health strategies, healthcare payment approaches, and regulatory policies that advance health and equity.

Caleb Alexander

G. Caleb Alexander, MD, MS, is a practicing internist and epidemiologist focused on maximizing the use, safety, and effectiveness of prescription medicines.

Gerard Anderson

Gerard Anderson, PhD, works with policymakers to control health care spending.

Aditi P. Sen

Aditi Sen, PhD, MA, is a health economist working to design and implement payment and delivery systems that improve quality of and access to care for all Americans.

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Research articles

Unexplored therapeutic opportunities in the human genome

In 2014, the Illuminating the Druggable Genome programme was launched to promote the exploration of currently understudied but potentially druggable proteins. This article discusses how the systematic collection and processing of a wide array of biological and chemical data as part of this programme has enabled the development of evidence-based criteria for tracking the target development level of human proteins, which indicates a substantial knowledge deficit for approximately one out of three proteins in the human proteome. It also highlights the nature of the unexplored therapeutic opportunities for major protein families.

• Tudor I. Oprea
• Cristian G. Bologa
• Gergely Zahoránszky-Köhalmi

Drug discovery effectiveness from the standpoint of therapeutic mechanisms and indications

Shih and colleagues analyse comprehensive industry-wide data on drug development projects pursued during the past 20 years, classified according to the mechanism and indication for each project. Their findings indicate several points and trends that may be useful in understanding and improving the productivity of the pharmaceutical industry, including areas with substantial success or failure and the relative extent of novelty in completed and ongoing projects.

• Hsin-Pei Shih
• Xiaodan Zhang
• Alex M. Aronov

Trends in GPCR drug discovery: new agents, targets and indications

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are the most intensively studied class of drug targets. This article presents a pioneering analysis of all GPCR-targeted drugs and agents that are currently in clinical trials, and discusses the trends across molecule types, drug targets and therapeutic indications.

• Alexander S. Hauser
• Misty M. Attwood
• David E. Gloriam

A comprehensive map of molecular drug targets

The success of mechanism-based drug discovery depends on the definition of the drug target, but targets are often poorly defined in the literature. Here, Overington and colleagues present a comprehensive map of the molecular targets of approved drugs, and explore aspects including the footprint of target classes across disease areas, the success of privileged target families and drug target orthologues across standard model organisms.

• Rita Santos
• John P. Overington

An analysis of the attrition of drug candidates from four major pharmaceutical companies

Attempts to reduce the number of efficacy- and safety-related failures that may be linked to the physicochemical properties of small-molecule drug candidates have been inconclusive owing to the limited size of data sets from individual companies. Waring and colleagues analyse the largest data set compiled so far on the causes of attrition for oral, small-molecule drug candidates, derived from a pioneering data-sharing effort by AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly and Company, GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer.

• Michael J. Waring
• John Arrowsmith

The discovery of first-in-class drugs: origins and evolution

Previous analyses of new drug approvals have suggested that phenotypic screening strategies have been more productive than target-based approaches in the discovery of first-in-class small-molecule drugs. Eder and colleagues analysed the origins of the first-in-class drugs approved by the US Food and Drug Administration from 1999 to 2013, and found that target-based approaches have had a substantial impact in more recent years. They discuss the implications for drug discovery strategies, including viewing phenotypic screening as a novel discipline rather than as a neoclassical approach.

• Richard Sedrani
• Christian Wiesmann

Phenotypic screening in cancer drug discovery — past, present and future

There has been a resurgence of interest in the use of phenotypic screens in drug discovery as an alternative to target-focused approaches. Moffat and colleagues investigated the contribution of phenotypic assays in oncology by analysing the origins of the new small-molecule cancer drugs approved by the US Food and Drug Administration over the past 15 years. They also discuss technical and biological advances that could empower phenotypic drug discovery in oncology by enabling the development of mechanistically informed phenotypic screens.

• John G. Moffat
• Joachim Rudolph
• David Bailey

The role of ligand efficiency metrics in drug discovery

Ligand efficiency metrics quantify the molecular properties required to gain binding affinity for a drug target. This article discusses the application of such metrics in the selection and optimization of fragments, hits and leads, highlighting how optimizing ligand efficiency metrics based on both molecular mass and lipophilicity, when set in the context of the specific target, has the potential to increase the quality of drug candidates.

• Andrew L. Hopkins
• György M. Keserü
• Charles H. Reynolds

Objective assessment of cancer genes for drug discovery

Effectively selecting therapeutic targets from the sizeable lists that are emerging from large-scale multi-omics initiatives is a key challenge in drug discovery. This article describes an objective, systematic computational assessment of biological and chemical space that can be applied to any human gene set to prioritize targets for further evaluation, and demonstrates its use on a set of 479 cancer-associated genes to identify new opportunities for drug discovery and repurposing.

• Mishal N. Patel
• Mark D. Halling-Brown
• Bissan Al-Lazikani

Quantifying factors for the success of stratified medicine

Co-developing a drug with a diagnostic to create a stratified medicine — a therapy that is targeted to a specific patient population on the basis of a clinical biomarker — presents challenges for product developers, regulators, payers and physicians. With the aim of developing a shared framework and tools for addressing these challenges, this article presents an analysis using data from case studies in oncology and Alzheimer's disease, coupled with integrated computational modelling of clinical outcomes and economic value, to quantify the effects of decisions on key issues such as the design of clinical trials.

• Mark R. Trusheim
• Breon Burgess
• Michael C. Palmer

The influence of the 'organizational factor' on compound quality in drug discovery

In the past 15 years, it has become clear that physicochemical properties of drug candidates, such as lipophilicity and molecular mass, have an important influence on the likelihood of compound-related attrition during development. By analysing the properties of compounds described in patents from leading pharmaceutical companies between 2000 and 2010, this article indicates that a substantial part of the industry has not modified its drug design practices accordingly and is still producing compounds with suboptimal physicochemical profiles.

• Paul D. Leeson
• Stephen A. St-Gallay

Trends in the exploitation of novel drug targets

Schiöth and colleagues examine the drugs approved by the US Food and Drug Administration over the past 30 years and analyse the interactions of these drugs with therapeutic targets encoded by the human genome, identifying 435 effect-mediating drug targets. They also analyse trends in the introduction of drugs that modulate previously unexploited targets, and discuss the network pharmacology of the drugs in the data set.

• Mathias Rask-Andersen
• Markus Sällman Almén
• Helgi B. Schiöth

How were new medicines discovered?

To investigate whether some strategies have been more successful than others in the discovery of new drugs, this article analyses the discovery strategies and the molecular mechanism of action for 259 new drugs that were approved by the US Food and Drug Administration between 1999 and 2008. Observations from this analysis — such as the fact that the contribution of phenotypic screening to the discovery of first-in-class small-molecule drugs exceeded that of target-based approaches in an era in which the major focus was on target-based approaches — could have important implications for efforts to increase the productivity of drug research and development.

• David C. Swinney
• Jason Anthony

The productivity crisis in pharmaceutical R&D

Although investment in pharmaceutical research and development (R&D) has increased substantially in recent decades, the lack of a corresponding increase in the output in terms of new drugs being approved indicates that therapeutic innovation has become more challenging. Here, using a large database that contains information on R&D projects for more than 28,000 compounds investigated since 1990, Riccaboni and colleagues examine the factors underlying the decline in R&D productivity, which include an increasing concentration of R&D investments in areas in which the risk of failure is high.

• Fabio Pammolli
• Laura Magazzini
• Massimo Riccaboni

Probing the links between in vitro potency, ADMET and physicochemical parameters

A common assumption in current drug discovery strategies is that compounds with high in vitro potency at their target(s) have a greater potential to translate into successful, low-dose therapeutics, which is reflected in screening cascades with in vitro potency embedded as an early filter. This analysis of the publicly available ChEMBL database, which includes more than 500,000 drug discovery and marketed oral drug compounds, suggests that the perceived benefit of high in vitro potency may be negated by poorer absorption, distribution, metabolism, elimination and toxicity (ADMET) properties.

• M. Paul Gleeson
• Anne Hersey
• John Overington

The importance of new companies for drug discovery: origins of a decade of new drugs

Understanding the factors that promote drug innovation is important both for improvements in health care and the future of organizations engaged in the field. To investigate these factors, Kneller identifies the inventors of 252 new drugs approved by the US Food and Drug Administration from 1998 to 2007 and their places of work, and classifies these drugs according to innovativeness. This article presents a comprehensive analysis of these data, which highlight the strong contribution of biotechnology companies, particularly in the United States, to innovative drug discovery, and discusses potential contributing factors to the trends observed.

• Robert Kneller

How to improve R&D productivity: the pharmaceutical industry's grand challenge

Improving R&D productivity is crucial to ensuring the future viability of the pharmaceutical industry and advances in health care. This article presents a detailed analysis, based on comprehensive, recent, industry-wide data, to identify the relative contributions of each of the steps in the drug discovery and development process to overall R&D productivity, and proposes strategies that could have the most substantial impact in enhancing R&D productivity.

• Steven M. Paul
• Daniel S. Mytelka
• Aaron L. Schacht

Lessons from 60 years of pharmaceutical innovation

This article investigates pharmaceutical innovation by analysing data on the companies that introduced the ∼1,200 new drugs that have been approved by the US FDA since 1950. Implications of this analysis — which shows that the rate of new drug output in this period has essentially been constant despite the huge increases in R&D investment — are discussed, as well as options to achieve sustainability for the pharmaceutical industry.

• Bernard Munos

Can literature analysis identify innovation drivers in drug discovery?

Here, the authors use bibliometrics and related data-mining methods to analyse PubMed abstracts, literature citation data and patent filings. The analyses are used to identify trends in disease-related scientific activity that are likely to give new therapeutic opportunities.

• Pankaj Agarwal
• David B. Searls

Community-wide assessment of GPCR structure modelling and ligand docking: GPCR Dock 2008

The recent determination of several crystal structures of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) is providing new opportunities for structure-based drug design. This article analyses the state of the art in the prediction of GPCR structure and the docking of potential ligands on the basis of a community-wide, blind prediction assessment — GPCR Dock 2008 — that was carried out in coordination with the publication of the human adenosine A 2A receptor structure in 2008 and public release of the three-dimensional coordinates.

• Mayako Michino
• Enrique Abola
• Raymond C. Stevens

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• v.14(11); 2022 Nov

Substance Abuse Amongst Adolescents: An Issue of Public Health Significance

1 School of Epidemiology and Public Health, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences, Wardha, IND

Sonali G Choudhari

2 School of Epidemiology and Public Health; Community Medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences, Wardha, IND

Sarika U Dakhode

3 Department of Community Medicine, Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Memorial Medical College, Amravati, IND

Asmita Rannaware

Abhay m gaidhane.

Adolescence is a crucial time for biological, psychological, and social development. It is also a time when substance addiction and its adverse effects are more likely to occur. Adolescents are particularly susceptible to the negative long-term effects of substance use, including mental health illnesses, sub-par academic performance, substance use disorders, and higher chances of getting addicted to alcohol and marijuana. Over the past few decades, there have been substantial changes in the types of illegal narcotics people consume. The present article deals with the review of substance abuse as a public health problem, its determinants, and implications seen among adolescents. A systematic literature search using databases such as PubMed and Google Scholar was undertaken to search all relevant literature on teenage stimulant use. The findings have been organized into categories to cover essential aspects like epidemiology, neurobiology, prevention, and treatment. The review showed that substance addiction among adolescents between 12 to 19 years is widespread, though national initiatives exist to support young employment and their development. Research on psychological risk factors for teenage substance abuse is vast, wherein conduct disorders, including aggression, impulsivity, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, have been mentioned as risk factors for substance use. Parents' attitudes toward drugs, alcohol, academic and peer pressure, stress, and physical outlook are key determinants. Teenage drug usage has a significant negative impact on users, families, and society as a whole. It was found that a lot has been done to provide correct intervention to those in need with the constant development of programs and rehabilitative centers to safeguard the delicate minds of youths and prevent them from using intoxicants. Still, there is much need for stringent policy and program guidelines to curb this societal menace. 

Introduction and background

Drug misuse is a widespread issue; in 2016, 5.6% of people aged 15 to 26 reported using drugs at least once [ 1 ]. Because alcohol and illegal drugs represent significant issues for public health and urgent care, children and adolescents frequently visit emergency rooms [ 2 ]. It is well known that younger people take drugs more often than older adults for most drugs. Drug usage is on the rise in many Association of Southeast Asian Nations, particularly among young males between the ages of 15 and 30 years [ 3 ]. According to the 2013 Global Burden of Disease report, drug addiction is a growing problem among teenagers and young people. Early substance use increases the likelihood of future physical, behavioral, social, and health issues [ 4 ]. Furthermore, recreational drug use is a neglected contributor to childhood morbidity and mortality [ 5 ]. One of the adverse outcomes of adolescent substance use is the increased risk of addiction in those who start smoking, drinking, and taking drugs before they are of 18 years. Moreover, most individuals with Substance Use Disorders begin using substances when they are young [ 6 ]. Substance use disorders amongst adolescents have long-term adverse health effects but can be mitigated with efficient treatment [ 7 ].

Childhood abuse is linked to suicidal thoughts and attempts. The particular mental behavior that mediates the link between childhood trauma and adult suicidal ideation and attempts is yet unknown. Recent studies show teens experiencing suicidal thoughts, psychiatric illness symptoms like anxiety, mood, and conduct disorders, and various types of child maltreatment like sexual abuse, corporal punishment, and emotional neglect that further leads to children inclining toward intoxicants [ 8 ]. Although teen substance use has generally decreased over the past five years, prolonged opioid, marijuana, and binge drinking use are still common among adolescents and young adults [ 9 ]. Drug-using students are more prone to commit crimes, including bullying and violent behavior. It has also been connected to various mental conditions, depending on the substance used. On the other hand, it has been linked to social disorder, abnormal behavior, and association with hostile groups [ 10 ]. Adolescent substance users suffer risks and consequences on the psychological, sociocultural, or behavioral levels that may manifest physiologically [ 11 ]. About 3 million deaths worldwide were caused by alcohol consumption alone. The majority of the 273,000 preventable fatalities linked to alcohol consumption are in India [ 12 ], which is the leading contributor. The United Nations Office on Drug and Crime conducted a national survey on the extent, patterns, and trends of drug abuse in India in 2003, which found that there were 2 million opiate users, 8.7 million cannabis users, and 62.5 million alcohol users in India, of whom 17% to 20% are dependent [ 13 ]. According to prevalence studies, 13.1% of drug users in India are under the age of 20 [ 14 ].

In India, alcohol and tobacco are legal drugs frequently abused and pose significant health risks, mainly when the general populace consumes them. States like Punjab and Uttar Pradesh have the highest rates of drug abuse, and the Indian government works hard to provide them with helpful services that educate and mentor them. This increases the burden of non-communicable illnesses too [ 15 ]. In addition, several substances/drugs are Narcotic and Psychotropic and used despite the act named ‘Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985. 

This review article sheds light on ‘substance abuse’ amongst adolescents as an issue of public health significance, its determinants, and its implications on the health and well-being of adolescents.

Methodology

The present article deals with the narrative review of substance abuse as a public health problem, its determinants, and implications seen among adolescents. A systematic literature search using databases such as PubMed and Google Scholar was undertaken to search all relevant literature on teenage stimulant use. The findings have been organized into categories to cover essential aspects like epidemiology, neurobiology, prevention, and treatment. Various keywords used under TiAb of PubMed advanced search were Stimulants, "Drug abuse", "Psychotropic substance", "Substance abuse", addiction, and Adolescents, teenage, children, students, youth, etc., including MeSH terms. Figure ​ Figure1 1 shows the key substances used by youth.

Reasons for abuse

People may initially choose to take drugs for psychological and physical reasons. Psychological issues, including mental illness, traumatic experiences, or even general attitudes and ideas, might contribute to drug usage. Several factors can contribute to emotional and psychosocial stress, compelling one to practice drug abuse. It can be brought on by a loss of a job because of certain reasons, the death of a loved one, a parent's divorce, or financial problems. Even medical diseases and health problems can have a devastating emotional impact. Many take medicines to increase their physical stamina, sharpen their focus, or improve their looks.

Students are particularly prone to get indulged in substance abuse due to various reasons, like academic and peer pressure, the appeal of popularity and identification, readily available pocket money, and relatively easy accessibility of several substances, especially in industrial, urban elite areas, including nicotine (cigarettes) [ 16 , 17 ]. In addition, a relationship breakup, mental illness, environmental factors, self-medication, financial concerns, downtime, constraints of work and school, family obligations, societal pressure, abuse, trauma, boredom, curiosity, experimentation, rebellion, to be in control, enhanced performance, isolation, misinformation, ignorance, instant gratification, wide availability can be one of the reasons why one chooses this path [ 18 ].

The brain grows rapidly during adolescence and continues to do so until early adulthood, as is well documented. According to studies using structural magnetic resonance imaging, changes in cortical grey matter volume and thickness during development include linear and nonlinear transformations and increases in white matter volume and integrity. This delays the maturation of grey and white matter, resulting in poorer sustained attention [ 19 ]. Alcohol drinking excessively increases the likelihood of accidents and other harmful effects by impairing cognitive functions like impulse control and decision-making and motor functions like balance and hand-eye coordination [ 20 ]. Lower-order sensory motor regions of the brain mature first, followed by limbic areas crucial for processing rewards. The development of different brain regions follows different time-varying trajectories. Alcohol exposure has adversely affected various emotional, mental, and social functions in the frontal areas linked to higher-order cognitive functioning that emerge later in adolescence and young adulthood [ 21 ].

Smoking/e-cigarettes

The use of tobacco frequently begins before adulthood. A worryingly high percentage of schoolchildren between 13 and 15 have tried or are currently using tobacco, according to the global youth tobacco survey [ 22 ]. It is more likely that early adolescent cigarette usage will lead to nicotine dependence and adult cigarette use. Teenage smoking has been associated with traumatic stress, anxiety, and mood problems [ 23 ]. Nicotine usage has been associated with a variety of adolescent problems, including sexual risk behaviors, aggressiveness, and the use of alcohol and illegal drugs. High levels of impulsivity have been identified in adolescent smokers.

Additionally, compared to non-smokers, smoking is associated with a higher prevalence of anxiety and mood disorders in teenagers. Smoking is positively associated with suicidal thoughts and attempts [ 24 ]. Peer pressure, attempting something new, and stress management ranked top for current and former smokers [ 25 ]. Most teenagers say that when they start to feel down, they smoke to make themselves feel better and return to their usual, upbeat selves. Smoking may have varying effects on people's moods [ 26 ]. Teenagers who smoke seem more reckless, less able to control their impulses, and less attentive than non-smokers [ 27 ].

Cannabis/Marijuana

Marijuana is among the most often used illegal psychotropic substances in India and internationally. The prevalence of marijuana usage and hospitalizations related to marijuana are rising, especially among young people, according to current trends. Cannabis usage has been connected to learning, working memory, and attention problems. Cannabis has been shown to alleviate stress in small doses, but more significant amounts can cause anxiety, emotional symptoms, and dependence [ 28 ]. Myelination and synaptic pruning are two maturational brain processes that take place during adolescence and the early stages of adulthood. According to reports, these remodeling mechanisms are linked to efficient neural processing. They are assumed to provide the specialized cognitive processing needed for the highest neurocognitive performance. On a prolonged attentional processing test, marijuana usage before age 16 was linked to a shorter reaction time [ 29 ]. Cannabis use alters the endocannabinoid system, impacting executive function, reward function, and affective functions. It is believed that these disturbances are what lead to mental health problems [ 30 ].

MDMA (Ecstasy/Molly)

MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine) was a synthetic drug used legally in psychotherapy treatment throughout the 1970s, despite the lack of data demonstrating its efficacy. Molly, or the phrase "molecular," is typically utilized in powder form. Serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine are produced more significantly when MDMA is used. In the brain, these neurotransmitters affect mood, sleep, and appetite. Serotonin also causes the release of other hormones that may cause emotions of intimacy and attraction. Because of this, users might be more affectionate than usual and possibly develop ties with total strangers. The effects wear off three to six hours later, while a moderate dose may cause withdrawal symptoms to continue for a week. These symptoms include a decline in sex interest, a drop in appetite, problems sleeping, confusion, impatience, anxiety, sorrow, Impulsivity and violence, issues with memory and concentration, and insomnia are a few of them. Unsettlingly, it is rising in popularity in India, particularly among teenagers [ 31 ].

Opium 

In addition to being a top producer of illicit opium, India is a significant drug consumer. In India, opium has a long history. The most common behavioral changes are a lack of motivation, depression, hyperactivity, a lack of interest or concentration, mood swings or abrupt behavior changes, confusion or disorientation, depression, anxiety, distortion of reality perception, social isolation, slurred or slow-moving speech, reduced coordination, a loss of interest in once-enjoyed activities, taking from family members or engaging in other illegal activity [ 32 ]. Except for the chemical produced for medicinal purposes, it is imperative to prohibit both production and usage since if a relatively well-governed nation like India cannot stop the drug from leaking, the problem must be huge in scope [ 33 ].

Cocaine is a highly addictive drug that causes various psychiatric syndromes, illnesses, and symptoms. Some symptoms include agitation, paranoia, hallucinations, delusions, violence, and thoughts of suicide and murder. They may be caused by the substance directly or indirectly through the aggravation of co-occurring psychiatric conditions. More frequent and severe symptoms are frequently linked to the usage of cocaine in "crack" form. Cocaine can potentially worsen numerous mental diseases and cause various psychiatric symptoms.

Table ​ Table1 1 discusses the short- and long-term effects of substance abuse.

Other cheap substances ( sasta nasha ) used in India

India is notorious for phenomena that defy comprehension. People in need may turn to readily available items like Iodex sandwiches, fevibond, sanitizer, whitener, etc., for comfort due to poverty and other circumstances to stop additional behavioral and other changes in youth discouragement is necessary [ 42 - 44 ]. 

Curbing drug abuse amongst youth

Seventy-five percent of Indian households contain at least one addict. The majority of them are fathers who act in this way due to boredom, stress from their jobs, emotional discomfort, problems with their families, or problems with their spouses. Due to exposure to such risky behaviors, children may try such intoxicants [ 45 ]. These behaviors need to be discouraged because they may affect the child's academic performance, physical growth, etc. The youngster starts to feel depressed, lonely, agitated and disturbed. Because they primarily revolve around educating students about the dangers and long-term impacts of substance abuse, previous attempts at prevention have all been ineffective. To highlight the risks of drug use and scare viewers into abstaining, some programs stoked terror. The theoretical underpinning of these early attempts was lacking, and they failed to consider the understanding of the developmental, social, and other etiologic factors that affect teenage substance use. These tactics are based on a simple cognitive conceptual paradigm that says that people's decisions to use or abuse substances depend on how well they are aware of the risks involved. More effective contemporary techniques are used over time [ 46 ]. School-based substance abuse prevention is a recent innovation utilized to execute changes, including social resistance skills training, normative education, and competence enhancement skills training.

Peer pressure makes a teenager vulnerable to such intoxicants. Teenagers are often exposed to alcohol, drugs, and smoking either because of pressure from their friends or because of being lonely. Social resistance training skills are used to achieve this. The pupils are instructed in the best ways to steer clear of or manage these harmful situations. The best method to respond to direct pressure to take drugs or alcohol is to know what to say (i.e., the specific content of a refusal message) and how to say it. These skills must be taught as a separate curriculum in every school to lower risk. Standard instructional methods include lessons and exercises to dispel misconceptions regarding drug usage's widespread use. 

Teenagers typically exaggerate how common it is to smoke, drink, and use particular substances, which could give off the impression that substance usage is acceptable. We can lessen young people's perceptions of the social acceptability of drug use by educating them that actual rates of drug usage are almost always lower than perceived rates of use. Data from surveys that were conducted in the classroom, school, or local community that demonstrate the prevalence of substance use in the immediate social setting may be used to support this information. If not, this can be taught using statistics from national surveys, which usually show prevalence rates that are far lower than what kids describe.

The role social learning processes have in teen drug use is recognized by competency-improvement programs, and there is awareness about how adolescents who lack interpersonal and social skills are more likely to succumb to peer pressure to use drugs. These young people might also be more inclined to turn to drug usage instead of healthier coping mechanisms. Most competency enhancement strategies include instruction in many of the following life skills: general problem-solving and decision-making skills, general cognitive abilities for fending off peer or media pressure, skills for enhancing self-control, adaptive coping mechanisms for reducing stress and anxiety through the use of cognitive coping mechanisms or be behavioral relaxation techniques, and general social and assertive skills [ 46 ].

Programs formulated to combat the growing risk of substance abuse

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare developed Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram for teenagers aged 10 to 19, with a focus on improving nutrition, sexual and reproductive health, mental health, preventing injuries and violence, and preventing substance abuse. By enabling them to make informed and responsible decisions about their health and well-being and ensuring that they have access to the tools and assistance they need, the program seeks to enable all adolescents in India in realizing their full potential [ 47 ].

For the past six years, ‘Nasha Mukti Kendra’ in India and rehabilitation have worked to improve lives and provide treatment for those who abuse alcohol and other drugs. They provide cost-effective and dedicated therapy programs for all parts of society. Patients come to them from all around the nation. Despite having appropriate programs and therapies that can effectively treat the disorder, they do not employ medication to treat addiction.

Conclusions

Around the world, adolescent drug and alcohol addiction has significantly increased morbidity and mortality. The menace of drugs and alcohol has been woven deep into the fabric of society. As its effects reach our youth, India's current generation is at high stake for the risk associated with the abuse of drugs like cannabis, alcohol, and tobacco. Even though the issue of substance abuse is complicated and pervasive, various stakeholders like healthcare professionals, community leaders, and educational institutions have access to a wealth of evidence-based research that can assist them to adopt interventions that can lower rates of teenage substance misuse. It is realized that while this problem is not specific to any one country or culture, individual remedies might not always be beneficial. Due to the unacceptably high rate of drug abuse that is wreaking havoc on humanity, a strategy for addressing modifiable risk factors is crucial. Because human psychology and mental health influence the choices the youth make related to their indulgence in drug misuse, it is the need of the hour to give serious consideration to measures like generating awareness, counseling, student guidance cells, positive parenting, etc., across the world. It will take time to change this substance misuse behavior, but the more effort we put into it, the greater the reward we will reap.

The content published in Cureus is the result of clinical experience and/or research by independent individuals or organizations. Cureus is not responsible for the scientific accuracy or reliability of data or conclusions published herein. All content published within Cureus is intended only for educational, research and reference purposes. Additionally, articles published within Cureus should not be deemed a suitable substitute for the advice of a qualified health care professional. Do not disregard or avoid professional medical advice due to content published within Cureus.

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

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Drug Topics For School Projects And Academic Research

Research papers and essays on drug topics address sociology, pharmacology, medicine, psychology, statistics, history, and criminology issues. Drug abuse is a serious problem in modern society. It’s a serious issue that different countries are trying to combat. As such, educators ask learners to write academic papers and essays on drug abuse topics to understand this subject better.

Many countries have spent billions of dollars fighting addiction and treating drug addicts. Countless lives have been lost to drug addiction. The increasing crime rates in many countries have also been attributed to drug abuse and addiction. What’s more, people in different social groups gave initiated campaigns against drug use and trade. It’s, therefore, reasonable for educators to ask learners to write about drug and alcohol topics.

Choosing Drug Research Topics

• Interesting Drug Topics for Papers and Essays
• Effects of Drug Addiction Topics

Argumentative Research Topics about Drug Use

Drug and alcohol group topics, drug legislation research essay topics.

As students write academic papers on drug related research topics, they engage in research that helps them come to terms with the extent of this problem. They also learn how illicit drug use affects human life. War on drugs research topics helps learners to know the number of resources their governments are spending trying to deal with this problem. Such knowledge can help learners avoid addictive drugs.

But, choosing the drug research topics to write about is not easy. That’s because learners should choose interesting topics for which they can find adequate information to write about. If struggling to pick topics on drug abuse for your academic papers and essays, here are 100 great ideas from our assignment service .

Interesting Drug Topics for Papers and Essays

• The government should legalize marijuana use
• Drug users should go to rehabs, not jail
• The government should eliminate cash bail and legalize marijuana
• How illicit drugs benefit society
• Interesting medical uses of cannabis
• Effects of illicit drugs on society
• Why teens abuse drugs
• Possible solutions to the drug abuse problem among teenagers
• What are the effects of early drug abuse?
• Health benefits of marijuana
• Why athletes need marijuana
• Discuss the long-term effects of illicit drug use
• History of drug abuse
• What prompts a person to abuse drugs?
• Is the war against drug abuse necessary?
• Can the government win the war against illicit drugs?
• Can technology be used to fight drug abuse and addiction?
• How do movies promote drug abuse?
• Are modern celebrities promoting drug abuse?
• How can the government deal with prescription drug abuse?

These are interesting ideas for research papers and essays, especially for learners that want to write about controversial drug topics. Nevertheless, be ready to invest time and effort in research, analysis, and writing if you pick any of these research paper topics on drug abuse.

Effects of Drug Addiction Topics

Some people want to know how drug addiction affects a person’s life. As such, this category comprises some of the most interesting drug related topics for learners. Here are some of the best drug addiction research topics to consider if interested in the consequences of addictive substances.

• Does the amount of abused drugs affect its impact?
• Why are some people more addicted to drugs than others?
• How does drug addiction differ between men and women?
• Why are there differences in drug addiction levels between men and women?
• What influences the effects of illicit drugs?
• Why do different drugs affect humans differently?
• What are the major signs of alcoholism?
• What are the effects of abusing marijuana?
• What are the effects of psychoactive substances on the human brain?
• Explain the main social issues caused by alcohol abuse
• How does drug abuse affect the social life of a person?
• How do addicts try to hide the effects of addictive substances?
• Can family members help an addict deal with the effects of an illicit drug?
• Can a person deal with the effects of illicit drug abuse alone?
• Why is rehab necessary when dealing with the effects of illicit drugs?
• Is withdrawal syndrome an effect of illicit drug addiction
• Can abusing alcohol affect the judgment of a person?
• Why is it not advisable to drink alcohol and operate machinery or drive?
• Common myths about the effects of alcohol
• Common myths about the effects of marijuana

Choose any of these drug research paper topics if interested in learning how illicit substances affect the users. Nevertheless, be prepared to research extensively to come up with a solid paper about any of these essay topics on drug addiction.

Maybe you hold a certain perspective about drug use. Some people may not agree with you but you would like to persuade them. In that case, you might consider argumentative essay topics drug addiction ideas. That way, you can express your views on the topic professionally. Here are some of the best persuasive essay topics about drugs to consider.

• Addiction is a disease
• The genetic makeup of a person can prompt them to abuse drugs
• The environment of a person can influence them to abuse drugs
• Social and cultural factors play a role in drug addiction
• Drug abuse does not always lead to bad behaviors
• Mass media can encourage drug abuse and addiction
• Celebrities can influence drug abuse among teenagers
• Drug addiction treatments should focus on inner motivations
• Imprisonment does not help a drug addict
• Interactions with drug addicts can have a negative influence on kids
• The environment is not to blame for drug addiction
• Schools can help prevent drug abuse among the teens
• The perceived correlation between delinquency and drug abuse is wrong
• The effect of drugs on a person’s perception is not always negative
• Parents are partly to blame for drug abuse by teens
• A person who has never had an addiction can’t understand how it feels to battle drug addiction
• Drug addiction takes control over a person
• Behavioral and cognitive problems can also affect the academic performance of students that abuse drugs and alcohol
• Isolating drug addicts will only escalate their addiction
• Family members should play a role in the treatment of drug addicts

Pick a topic on drug addiction from this category if ready to research extensively and come up with strong points to support your argument. That’s because you must convince readers to support your position in your argument.

Perhaps, you’re looking for drug project ideas that touch on group mentality or perception. In that case, this category has some of the best academic papers and essay topics for drug abuse that you should consider.

• What are the major social aspects of drug addiction?
• Which are the most vulnerable social groups when it comes to drug addiction?
• Is drug abuse part of sacred rituals in some religions?
• Minors and drug abuse
• Irreversible effects of drug abuse among teens
• What is the psychological defense of drug abuse by human trafficking victims
• Cultural and ethnic traditions that compel some social groups to abuse drugs
• Can legalizing marijuana make some social groups abuse it more?
• Why do most women abuse painkiller drugs?
• How does the “club culture” enhance drug abuse?
• Who can benefit from the mandatory examination for drug abuse?
• How drug abuse affects social relations
• Can a family be affected negatively by substance abuse by one of its members?
• Drug abuse among the LGBTQ
• Why drug abuse is considered cool among teenagers
• How college culture enhances drug abuse
• How does attitude towards drugs differ among social groups?
• How does the legal drinking age differ based on cultural diversity?
• Should countries have similar laws on drug abuse?
• What are the main causes of drug abuse in various social groups?

These are also great drug debate topics for students in different study levels. However, they also require extensive research to come up with good papers and essays.

If you decide to write about topics for a paper on drug war, you may want to talk about policies, laws, and regulations that touch on different illicit substances. This category has research paper topics drugs ideas that may also focus on legislation.

• Common substance abuse laws in most countries
• Effects of drug abuse policies
• How some legislations compel people to abuse drugs
• How substance abuse laws can help in the war against the drug trade
• Top drug laws in the U.S
• Explain the confidentiality of drug and alcohol abuse patients’ records
• Explain the disparity in drug law among people of different races
• How governments can use legislation to fight drug abuse
• Should the government legalize marijuana?
• Scaling up the war against drug abuse through legislation
• Important legislations for enhancing the war against drugs
• Legislations for preventing underage alcohol consumption
• How can the government use legislation to fight drug abuse without infringing on human rights?
• Legislation to channel more resources to the war on drug abuse
• Causes of illegal drug use among women
• Vaping legislation to prevent drug abuse
• Important legislation to prevent prescription drug abuse
• Legislations to curb military populations’ drug abuse
• Enforcing law to curb college drug abuse
• Addressing the increasing cases of people drinking under the influence of alcohol

Drug abuse is a broad subject. Pick some of these drugs essay topics and then research them extensively to come up with papers that will earn you the top scores. Also, you can take a look at these health topics .

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• MJC Library & Learning Center
• Research Guides

Drug Abuse, Addiction, Substance Use Disorder

• Research Drug Abuse

Start Learning About Your Topic

Create research questions to focus your topic, find books in the library catalog, find articles in library databases, find web resources, cite your sources, key search words.

Use the words below to search for useful information in   books  and  articles .

• substance use disorder 
• substance abuse
• drug addiction
• substance addiction
• chemical dependency
• war on drugs
• names of specific drugs such as methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin
• opioid crisis

Background Reading:

It's important to begin your research learning something about your subject; in fact, you won't be able to create a focused, manageable thesis unless you already know something about your topic.

This step is important so that you will:

• Begin building your core knowledge about your topic
• Be able to put your topic in context
• Create research questions that drive your search for information
• Create a list of search terms that will help you find relevant information
• Know if the information you’re finding is relevant and useful

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• Gale eBooks This link opens in a new window Use this database for preliminary reading as you start your research. Try searching these terms: addiction, substance abuse

Other eBooks from the MJC Library collection:

Use some of the questions below to help you narrow this broad topic. See "substance abuse" in our Developing Research Questions guide for an example of research questions on a focused study of drug abuse. 

• In what ways is drug abuse a serious problem? 
• What drugs are abused?
• Who abuses drugs?
• What causes people to abuse drugs?
• How do drug abusers' actions affect themselves, their families, and their communities?
• What resources and treatment are available to drug abusers?
• What are the laws pertaining to drug use?
• What are the arguments for legalizing drugs?
• What are the arguments against legalizing drugs?
• Is drug abuse best handled on a personal, local, state or federal level?
• Based on what I have learned from my research what do I think about the issue of drug abuse?

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• EBSCOhost Databases This link opens in a new window Search 22 databases simultaneously that cover almost any topic you need to research at MJC. EBSCO databases include articles previously published in journals, magazines, newspapers, books, and other media outlets.
• Gale Databases This link opens in a new window Search over 35 databases simultaneously that cover almost any topic you need to research at MJC. Gale databases include articles previously published in journals, magazines, newspapers, books, and other media outlets.
• Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection This link opens in a new window Contains articles from nearly 560 scholarly journals, some dating as far back as 1965
• Access World News This link opens in a new window Search the full-text of editions of record for local, regional, and national U.S. newspapers as well as full-text content of key international sources. This is your source for The Modesto Bee from January 1989 to the present. Also includes in-depth special reports and hot topics from around the country. To access The Modesto Bee , limit your search to that publication. more... less... Watch this short video to learn how to find The Modesto Bee .

Use Google Scholar to find scholarly literature on the Web:

Browse Featured Web Sites:

• National Institute on Drug Abuse NIDA's mission is to lead the nation in bringing the power of science to bear on drug abuse and addiction. This charge has two critical components. The first is the strategic support and conduct of research across a broad range of disciplines. The second is ensuring the rapid and effective dissemination and use of the results of that research to significantly improve prevention and treatment and to inform policy as it relates to drug abuse and addiction.
• Drug Free America Foundation Drug Free America Foundation, Inc. is a drug prevention and policy organization committed to developing, promoting and sustaining national and international policies and laws that will reduce illegal drug use and drug addiction.
• Office of National Drug Control Policy A component of the Executive Office of the President, ONDCP was created by the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988. ONDCP advises the President on drug-control issues, coordinates drug-control activities and related funding across the Federal government, and produces the annual National Drug Control Strategy, which outlines Administration efforts to reduce illicit drug use, manufacturing and trafficking, drug-related crime and violence, and drug-related health consequences.
• Drug Policy Alliance The Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) is the nation's leading organization promoting alternatives to current drug policy that are grounded in science, compassion, health and human rights.

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• Last Updated: Apr 25, 2024 1:28 PM
• URL: https://libguides.mjc.edu/drugabuse

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Drugs and Crime Research Projects

The following table — Drugs and Crime Research Awards — shows awards made by NIJ for drugs and crime research projects.

Both ongoing and completed projects are included. Project titles for completed awards are linked to the substantive report submitted to NIJ at the completion of the project if available.

• Drug Markets
• Epidemiology
• Market Disruption
• Prevention and Intervention
• Technology and Forensics

Cite this Article

Read more about:.

Updated with fiscal year 2022 awards. 

Drug Information

• Monographs & Drug Directories
• Journal Articles
• Patient Information & Education
• "Point of Care" Tools & Mobile Apps
• Pharmaceutical Industry
• Complementary & Alternative Medicine
• Substance Abuse

Other Drug-Related Research

There are several interdisciplinary research topics that bisect drugs and pharmacology. The most common of these are:

• Pharmaceutical Industry - focuses on the business structure, regulation, economics, and entities involved in the development, production and sale of drugs
• Complementary & Alternative Medicine - focuses on the therapeutic use of herbal, homeopathic, or nutritional remedies and integrative modalities to treat illness and promote health
• Substance Abuse - focuses on the recurrent use of alcohol or illicit drugs or the misuse of prescription drugs causing clinically significant impairment, including physical and mental health issues, disability, and death

We have provided some resources to get you started on your research of these related topics. Use the tabs to the left to view these resources.

• << Previous: "Point of Care" Tools & Mobile Apps
• Next: Pharmaceutical Industry >>
• Last Updated: Jun 25, 2024 12:13 PM
• URL: https://guides.nyu.edu/drugs

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• A Research Guide
• Research Paper Topics
• 40 Drug Abuse & Addiction Research Paper Topics

40 Drug Abuse & Addiction Research Paper Topics

Drug Abuse and Sociology

Drug abuse and medicine, drug abuse and psychology.

• Drug abuse and the degradation of neuron cells
• The social aspects of the drug abuse. The most vulnerable categories of people
• Drugs and religion. Drug abuse as the part of the sacred rituals
• Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
• Drug abuse as the part of human trafficking and as psychological defence of victims
• Reversible and irreversible consequences of drug abuse
• Drug abuse and minors
• Ethnic and cultural traditions that may lead to drug abuse
• Medical marijuana. Can legalizing it lead to drug abuse?
• The ethical questions of abusing painkiller drugs or other drugs that ease the state of a person
• The “club culture”. May it enhance the danger of drug abuse?
• Preventing drug abuse. Mandatory examination or voluntary learning: what will help most?
• The abstinence after the drug abuse. Rehabilitation and resocialization of the victims of it
• The harm done by drug abuse to the family and social relations
• The types of drugs and the impact of their abuse to the human body
• The positive effects of drugs. May they be reached without drawbacks of drug abuse?
• Alcoholics Anonymous, similar organisations and their role in overcoming the dependency
• Is constant smoking a drug abuse? Quitting smoking: government and social decisions
• Exotic addictions: game addiction, porn addiction etc. Do they have the effects similar to drug abuse?
• Substance abuse during pregnancy and before conceiving. What additional harm it causes?
• The correlation between drugs and spreading of HIV/AIDS
• Drug abuse and crime rates
• History of drug abuse. Opium houses, heroin cough syrup and others
• Drunk driving and drunk violence. The indirect victims of alcohol abuse
• The social rejection of the former drug abusers and the way to overcome it
• The main causes of drug abuse in the different social groups
• Drug abuse and mental health
• LGBTQ+ and drug abuse
• The development of drug testing. The governmental implementation of it
• Geniuses and drug abuse. Did drugs really helped them to create their masterpieces?
• Shall the laws about drug abuse be changed?
• Health Care Information Technology
• Drug abuse and global health throughout the 20-21 centuries
• Personal freedom or the safety of society: can drugs be allowed for personal use?
• Legal drinking age in different countries and its connection to the cultural diversity
• The different attitude to drugs and drug abuse in the different countries. Why it differs so much?
• Teenage and college culture. Why substance abuse is considered to be cool?
• Drugs, rape and robbery. Drugging people intentionally as the way to prevent them defending themselves
• 12-Step Programs and their impact on healing the drug addiction
• Alcohol, tobacco and sleeping pills advertising. Can it lead to more drug abuse?

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429 Drugs Essay Topics & Research Questions + Examples

Are you looking for a good drugs research title? You’re at the right place! StudyCorgi has prepared a list of engaging drug essay topics and questions for your project, discussion, debate, and other assignments.

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• Impacts of Drugs on the Society
• Drug Addiction: Advantages and Disadvantages
• Drug Abuse among Teenagers Causes and Effects
• Drug and Alcohol Abuse among Young People
• Ethical and Legal Implications of Prescribing Drugs
• Adolescent Drug Abuse, Their Awareness and Prevention
• The Consequences of Drug Abuse
• Causes and Effects of Drug Addiction Drug abuse entails constant and excessive usage of drugs to create feelings of happiness and blot out reality despite its well-known harmful effects.
• Teenage Drug Addiction Problem The modern world is full of diverse activities and hobbies that can have both positive and negative effects. This essay aims at discussing the phenomenon of teenage drug addiction.
• Shoppers Drug Mart: History, Founder, SWOT Analysis This paper aims to provide a full review of Shoppers Drug Mart’s internal and external operations. The author examines the history of the company and its founder, Murray Koffler.
• Effects of Drug Use on Society Every society encounters a variety of problems that it needs to address, and one of the most common is drug use among the population.
• Overcoming the Drug Abuse Addiction The use of narcotic drugs brings irreparable harm to health and diminishes the quality of life. Opioid abuse is a predominant problem that continues to be a concern.
• Case Study of Drug Addiction The case study provides a platform for evaluating treatment priorities and agencies crucial for the full recovery of substance abuse patients.
• The Use of Performance-Enhancing Drugs The information herein identifies particular risk factors that expose the global community to the objectionable concerns linked with the goods.
• How Drugs Influence the Crimes This essay discusses five major questions about ‘Drug and Crimes’, namely, what is the extent to which the drug subculture influences criminal behavior?, etc.
• Canadians’ Reaction to Alcohol as a Newly-Invented Illicit Drug The possible reaction of Canadians to alcohol, if it was a newly-invented illicit drug, will differ depending on their personal characteristics and external circumstances.
• Alcohol, Tobacco, and Illegal Drugs: Use Consequences Although tobacco, alcohol, and drugs cause severe physical and mental health problems and spoil a person’s social life, the image created for them contributes to harm devaluation.
• Drug Addiction and Best Treatment Practices This paper will determine the role of treatment in the recovery process and analyze the best evidence-based practices.
• Drug Abuse and Theories Explaining It This paper aims to examine several theories explaining drug addiction. The theories for analysis are biological, psychological, and sociological.
• Social Problems Related to Alcohol and Drugs The present paper will explain the content of three articles relating to the issue of Alcohol and drug use while also providing a personal reflection on the readings.
• Shoppers Drug Mart Company’s Retail Networks The paper presents the analysis of business concept applications on the example of the Shoppers Drug Mart company. It suggests ways to maintain the market share of retail networks.
• Monopoly Drugs Versus Generic Drugs When a pharmaceutical company creates a new drug it may apply for and be granted a patent that is a legal protection that shelters an invention from being used, copied, or traded without permission.
• Causes and Consequences of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Drug addiction is a psychological and physical disorder that affects the brain of an individual. It is caused by dependence on drugs, alcohol, and specific behaviors.
• Drug Addiction in America: Effects and Solutions The problem of illegal drug use is a major health issue in the United States, it affects thousands of people, the specified concern must be handled on the level of state policies.
• Drug Legalization from the Utilitarian Perspective The focus of the paper will be mainly on marijuana use, and such utilitarian principles as the principle of utility and the felicific calculus will be primarily applied.
• Drug Misuse and Its Effects on Children Health and body functioning are negatively affected, and the condition may manifest itself in drug dependence or an array of other harmful and problematic behaviors.
• Drug Abuse Relation to the Violent Behavior Various groups of drugs greatly vary and relate to violence in different ways. Any person with heavy drug habits may act negatively and involve in violent acts punishable by law.
• Classification of Legal and Illegal Drugs The classification of drugs as either legal or illegal provides a baseline foundation for the effect on victims and the attribute of addiction.
• Drug Testing in Pharmacology The aim of this paper is to analyze and review drug tests within the population of third-world countries and define whether these trials are ethical.
• Cause and Effect of Drug Addiction As a result of drug misuse, there are changes in the functioning of neurological pathways in the human brain, with the associated physical; and mental health deterioration.
• The Link Between Drug Abuse and Corruption This paper discusses that drug abuse and corruption deserve attention. It introduces causes and reasons for drug abuse and corruption.
• Alcohol and Drug Abuse in the Workplace Alcohol and drug abuse is one of the major causes of accidents in the workplace. Random alcohol and drug tests would discourage employees of organization from abusing alcohol or drugs.
• Drug Abuse and Its Effects on Families Because of the lack of control that a substance abuse patient has over their actions, families of the people that develop chemical dependency are under constant threat.
• Mandatory Drug Tests for Nursing Students Nursing schools have therefore tried to address this issue and one of the most commonly used tools is the mandatory drug test.
• “Should Drugs Be Legalized?” by William Bennett The war against drugs in the United States has reached a new level. Such an outcome is conditional upon the recent measures that politicians are discussing.
• The Crisis of Drug Addiction This essay will focus on the crisis of drug addiction in general. It will also include some factors that lead to drug abuse. The paper will cover the dynamics of drug addiction in the USA.
• Leadership in Drug Abuse Program Development Within the context of a potential intervention for drug abuse, the roles and competencies of leaders are the primary emphasis of this paper.
• Juvenile Drug Abuse Problems Analysis This essay describes the problem of juvenile drug use and applies the relevant delinquency theory. Additionally, the interventions or programs to fix the issue will be highlighted.
• Psychotherapy and Counseling for Drug Abuse Treatment Drugs are the biggest vice of humanity, along with the mental and moral deviations, horrible diseases of modern times, social neglect and abuse it causes and goes along with.
• Drug Interactions Prevention in Nursing Guidelines The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention developed new guidelines to dictate how and when medications should be provided.
• Apis Mellifica as a Homeopathic Drug for Headaches Homeopathy is one of the systems of alternative medicine. The paper investigates the effectiveness of using a homeopathic drug to address headaches.
• Drug Addiction among Nurses The United States of America has one of the best healthcare systems in the world. Drug abuse among nurses is a serious problem that threatens the quality care that is offered.
• Drug Dependency: Construction of a Rehabilitation Center Creating a program that would act as a foundation to help drug addicts recover from drug usage would help lessen drug dependency.
• Drugs and Alcohol Influence on Drivers Excessive amounts of alcohol and drugs deprive the driver of conscious control over the vehicle, leading to catastrophic consequences.
• Drug Use and Heroin Addiction: Informative Speech The illegality of drugs makes it impossible to research the actual numbers of people using drugs and situations making these persons initiate drug abuse and harm their health.
• Adderall Drug’s Impact on Cognitive Performance By exploring the effects of Adderall on cognitive performance, this research will contribute to an understanding of how this drug affects the brain and behavior.
• Drug Addiction: A Disease or a Choice? Drug addiction remains a serious health concern for contemporary society. The problem of whether drug addiction can be viewed as a disease or a choice remains topical.
• How Can Illegal Drugs Be Prevented From Entering Prison?
• Can Economic Aid Make a Difference in the Flow of Drugs?
• Are Novel Drugs Riskier for Patients Than Less Novel Drugs?
• Can the Drugs Problem Be Tackled Primarily Through Legal Enforcement?
• Do Drugs Are Barriers to Our Future?
• Are Anabolic Steroids Really Pernicious Deleterious Drugs?
• How Can Kids Best Be Convinced Not for Do Drugs?
• Have Newer Cardiovascular Drugs Reduced Hospitalization?
• Are Illegal Drugs Inferior Goods in the U.S.?
• How Dangerous Are Drugs?
• Are Psychotherapeutic Drugs Overprescribed for Treating Mental Illness?
• How Dangerous Are Drugs and What Can We Do About the Drug Problem?
• Are Drugs Taking Away the Excitement in Sports?
• How Antidepressant Drugs Work Effect Us?
• Does Medicaid Pay Too Much for Prescription Drugs?
• Are Drugs More Detrimental to Educational Attainment?
• Are Diet Drugs Are Safe for People?
• Can Pharmacogenomics Improve Drugs Safely?
• Does Price Reveal Poor-Quality Drugs?
• How Are Biosimilar Drugs More Extensive Than Those of Generic?
• Are Illegal Drugs Inferior Goods?
• Does Previous Marijuana Use Increase the Use of Other Drugs?
• How Are Drugs and Alcohol Affecting the Teenagers?
• Are Any Drugs Derived From the Ocean Presently Approved?
• Are the More Educated More Likely to Use New Drugs?
• Does Coffee Contain Drugs?
• Has the Time Come to Legalize Drugs?
• How Cost-Effective Are New Cancer Drugs in the U.S.?
• Are Adolescents With Abusive Parents at a Greater Risk of Abusing Drugs?
• Can Production and Trafficking of Illicit Drugs Be Reduced?
• Drug Misuse, Abuse, and Their Factors Addiction is a recurrent, chronic disorder characterized by compulsive substance seeking and use despite harmful consequences.
• Drug and Substance Abuse: Sociological Causes and Explanations It is normal to think that drug and substance abuse affects only consumers. However, it also affects various aspects of society.
• Drugs and Social Life in Iceland The nature of drug use in Iceland can be described as experimental — young people see something new in them and decide to try it out.
• Drug Addiction: A Choice or a Medical Disease? This article examines two opposing points of view on the problem of drug addiction – does a person have a choice to be a drug addict or is drug addiction a medical disease?
• The Effects of Drugs on a Man’s Reproductive System In this article, the author examines the reasons why drug and alcohol abuse negatively affects the reproductive health of men.
• Drug Abuse in Homeless Community The number of homeless people is continuously increasing, creating a severe threat to a country’s general well-being.
• Drug Dealing on College Campuses Regardless of the attention given to the issue, the effects of drugs on students are always understated. It is typical because the entire scope of the problem is rarely understood.
• Combating the Local Drug Distribution This annotated bibliography discusses articles dedicated to combating the local drug distribution and eliminating the Drug markets.
• Arguments For and Against Allowing Drug Use in Sports The main argument supporting the drug use in sports is that the drugs are medicines, improving the organism ability to mobilize its potential.
• Criminalizing Drug Usage: Effects and Consequences This paper critically examines the views that criminalization of drug use leads to greater social problems and harms individuals.
• Mechanism of Action and Clinical Application of Antiviral Drugs Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome was first reported in 1981 by the Centers for Disease Control, with the identification of the HIV-1 as the causative agent.
• Performance Enhancing Drugs Legalization in Sports The question that was going to be answered through various arguments in this paper was whether these drugs should be legalized.
• Shoppers Drug Mart Corporation’s Retail and Services Shoppers Drug Mart pays significant attention to the development of an efficient retail network that makes the business attractive to customers.
• Drug Abuse and Its Impact on Creativity The boosting effect of drugs on creativity is a myth because changes in thinking are a brain reaction to a narcotic that is temporary yet severe.
• Drug Addiction as Moral Failure The paper shows that drug abuse cannot be viewed as a moral failure. Kuhar’s scientific examinations made him come to that conclusion.
• The Anti-Drug Programs in Boston The history of drug abuse across the US has been a challenge for decades. There were various anti-drug programs introduced in Boston to curb the spread of its use in the city.
• Negative Effects of Drugs on Voice The essay explores the influence of drug intake on the singer’s voice and illustrate the importance of the topic for the singer’s vocal cords maintenance.
• Victimless Crimes: Drug Abuse and Sex Work This work’s primary objective is to research and analyze victimless crimes, namely drug abuse and sex work, from the viewpoint of criminology.
• The Influence of Drugs and Social Media Limitless online resources are used to search for helpful information and to harass, torment anonymously, or provoke others.
• Doctors’ Knowledge on Drug Prescription The reason why doctors have little knowledge of the drugs they prescribe is misplaced priorities during clinical trials.
• The Practice of Nursing Research: Drug Round Tabards The study has several implications for hospitals and nurses involved in medication distribution. It demonstrates that the implementation of drug round tabards is worth attention.
• Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (TDM) Assays Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) refers to the measurement of chemical or biochemical parameters in the lab to inform drug prescribing procedures.
• Pharmaceutical Industry: Drug Development Drug development is a lengthy process but rightly so since the result should be playing a curative role and not disease inducer.
• Health Issue Analysis: Prescription Drug Abuse Prescription drug abuse is a rapidly growing epidemic that spreads worldwide. Various national and international health organizations research this field.
• War on Drugs: Fighting the Way We Are Not Likely to Win The spread of drugs is showing a steady growth trend; its adverse consequences are very multifaceted both for the drug addicts themselves and for the society in which they exist.
• Miami Drug Wars of the 70s and 80s Drug use is a subject that has raised controversies for decades. This paper focuses on the drug wars in Miami outlining their social, political, and economic impacts.
• The Theme of Drug Abuse in Egan’s Book In her novel “A Visit from the Goon Squad”, Jennifer Egan discusses a number of problems of modern society. Among them is the problem of drug abuse.
• Drugs and Drug Related Crimes Obviously the current strategy of the government isn’t working and it is backfiring. The government needs to do something new.
• Drug Enforcement and War on Drugs “War on Drugs” has both positive and negative impact on criminal justice, creating certain stereotypes and putting pressure on the law enforcement agencies.
• Computerized Entry of Drug Prescribing Order The core of CPOE lies in the idea that it can replace recipes that are written manually with electronic orders. This approach involves reducing text recognition errors.
• Drug’s, Poverty’s and Beauty’s Effects on Health Some serious health outcomes emanate from frequent consumption of drugs, poverty, and a stringent adherence to the global trends of beauty.
• Drug and Prostitution Issues in the Local Community The present scenario concerns a patrol officer assigned to a truck stop near a major highway encountering crime and disorder problems.
• Drug Abuse and Alcohol-Related Crimes in Adolescents The current paper focuses on the topic of drug abuse and alcohol-related crimes among teenagers, showing that substances remain the most notable factor in juvenile crime.
• Drug Legalization: Arguments For and Against Some people would say that the U.S. should stop the war on drugs because this war caused enormous imprisonment of small-time drug dealers.
• Drug Cartels in Mexico: Definition, Background, Mexican War on Drugs Mexican drug cartels, as one of the most powerful and well-known internationally, present the primary focus of interest in the research paper.
• Drug and Alcohol Addiction Treatment Program Successful addiction treatment is comprised of three aspects, constructing the addiction treatment: body, mind, and soul.
• Drugs and Substance Abuse in College: Effects and Treatments The paper will give a review of a treatment approach to drug abuse and describe the effects of substance abuse on a person who is in college.
• The Problem of Legalizing Drugs The problem of drugs legalization is a topic for debate in many countries where politicians, sociologists, philosophers, and other experts try to address the consequences of using drugs.
• Social Factors of Substance Drug Abuse Substance abuse refers to the pattern of continued use, despite adverse consequences. Socio determinants of substance abuse imply social factors that affect the outcome of drugs.
• Drug Release: Ethical Dilemma in Pharmaceutics A moral issue has emerged as to whether a pharmaceutical company has to release a new drug or not. This drug is thought to be an effective treatment of depression.
• The legalization of recreational marijuana: pros and cons.
• Should drug users be criminalized or treated?
• Are drug companies liable for the opioid crisis?
• Are safe injection sites effective in preventing drug overdoses?
• The gateway drug theory: reality or a myth?
• Are mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses justified?
• The impact of zero tolerance drug policies in schools.
• The therapeutic potential of psychedelic substances.
• Why is drug testing essential in the workplace?
• Should drug education programs be mandatory in schools?
• Medication Safety and Drug Therapy Process This article reviews the literature on medication safety from a global perspective. It discusses how the drug therapy process has influenced medication safety.
• Reducing Adverse Drug Events Among Older Adults According to recent studies, one of the leading causes of severe complications is adverse drug events (ADEs) due to unaccounted drug-to-drug interactions.
• Drug Abuse in the United States’ Social Context Drug abuse is one of the problems affecting people in the United States. Society has contributed to the continued misuse of drugs today, through bad parenting or the environment.
• Regulation of Drug Compounding Drug compounding is necessary in exceptional cases where a patient may not use drugs approved by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA).
• “Addicts Who Survived” by David Courtwright: Crucial Work on Drug Addiction The purpose of this paper is to identify the main issues raised by David Courtwright and to discuss the content of the book “Addicts Who Survived”.
• A Right to Experimental Drugs The question of whether patients should have access to experimental drugs for treatment is based on the ethical standards governing the protection of humans in this area.
• Research Drug Safety Approaches Adverse effects of drugs implemented in certain treatment and care plans began to be noted a long time ago by health care specialists and scientists.
• Drugs in Perspective: Models of Addiction The moral model of addiction is a notion that has very little in common with biological or genetic components of addiction. The disease model of addiction is a lifelong addiction.
• Food and Drug Administration History The paper provides a brief introduction, background, and history of the FDA and the ways in which it operates, and the practices implemented.
• Brain Gain: The Underground World of Neuroenhancing Drugs In “Brain Gain: The Underground World of Neuroenhancing Drugs” published in The New Yorker, Talbot describes the harsh reality of young people in academia who take off-label drugs to keep up with their hectic schedules.
• War on Drugs Through a Socio-Political Framework Drug addiction is a problem that concerns not only the health of particular members of society suffering from this disease but also the country as a whole.
• Eli Lilly and Company: Drug Firm Analysis Eli Lilly and Company is an American drug firm whose head office is situated in Indianapolis. Eli Lilly and Company cares about its clientele by monitoring the benefits and risks of its drugs.
• Drug Dependency and Behavioral Addictions Drug dependency is often described as a chronic brain condition that causes the patient to seek out drug substances without control or consideration for their negative effects.
• Adverse Drug Events and Nurses’ Awareness Adverse drug events (ADE) are associated with unplanned hospital admissions, patient dissatisfaction, a financial burden on the US healthcare system, and even high mortality rate.
• Prescription Drugs Prices and Services in Florida This paper discusses the consequences caused by lowering the drug prices in Florida and the efficiency of medical services that might not be rewarded as high anymore.
• Drug Criminalization: Causes and Effects A comparison of the points made by opponents and proponents of drug decriminalization shows the differences between their overviews of the causes of drug crimes.
• The Business Ethics Workshop: Sex and Drugs at Work Employees should not sleep with their bosses to get promotions and pay raises because it does not conform to honesty and fairness.
• The History of Drug Addiction and Control The paper states that drug initiation can be considered a system of relations between the adolescent, family, drug culture, and society.
• What Are the Costs of Drug Addiction to Society? The essay will explore the overwhelming economic and social costs of drug addiction to society and outline how can confront and reduce the costs of drug addiction.
• The Drug Legalization Debate: A Complex Issue With Compelling Arguments Numerous social issues and concerns require close attention from the American government, including the problem of drug legalization.
• The Aspects of the Drug Use and Media The paper states that it is true when the media portrays drug and alcohol use in a glamorous light or when characters do not experience negative consequences.
• Drug Abuse in Pregnant Women: Effective Ways to Combat Several policies have been proposed to tackle the problem, namely financial support for therapy, voluntary sterilization, and criminal persecution.
• Monitoring Analysis of Drug Courts: The Value of Drug Courts The value of drug courts is expressed in their positive impact on drug-related crime statistics in the first years after completion of a drug treatment program.
• Solutions to Drug Misuse in the United States Drug abuse is a major cause of concern in the United States, with a consequential impact on people’s health and societal psychosocial and socioeconomic problems.
• The Issue of Misuse of Prescription Drugs The paper discusses the growing problem of prescription drug abuse in the United States, its consequences such as addiction and overdose, and possible solutions.
• Drug Abuse During Pregnancy: Policy Options Heated discussions on whether or not drug abuse during pregnancy should be illegal due to the potential risks to the developing fetus or child persist.
• Disclosure and Nondisclosure in Drugs Prescription The case focuses on the ethical and legal implications of prescribing new medication currently in the development stage for a child under the age of 12.
• Illegal Drug Use in Nurses: Discussion There are reasons why nurses are at risk of developing a drug addiction, which means that there is a high chance for practitioners to work with nurses who illegally use drugs.
• Drugs and Violence Go Hand in Hand From the point of view of American researchers, substance abuse increases the chances of subjects being drawn into conflict relationships.
• Alcohol in the Drugs and Behavior Context It is no secret that alcohol and human health are incompatible things. The most significant influence of alcohol falls on the cerebral cortex.
• Alcohol and Drug Foundation’s Public Relations The campaign conducted by Alcohol and Drug Foundation is a vivid example of how the theories and practices of PR can help alter people’s behavior.
• Illegal Drugs: Types and Influences Illegal drugs include substances that affect the body and the brain of a person. They are divided into several groups, depending on the method of use and the impact on the brain.
• Wellbutrin and Lexapro: Drugs Affecting Neurotransmitters Wellbutrin and Lexapro are effective drugs in the fight against depressive disorder. However, the drugs are addictive.
• Drugs and Behavior: History of Alcohol in America The ordinary colonial American drank roughly twice as much alcohol in 1770 as it does today—about three and a half gallons annually.
• Incretin Mimetic Drugs for Type 2 Diabetes In patients with type 2 diabetes, there is a significant decrease in the incretin effect and a decrease in insulin secretion in response to an oral load.
• Drug Addiction: The Brain Disease Drug addiction acts similarly to neurological diseases. Substances directly affected the brain, with addiction being the most acute phase of substance use disorder.
• Random Drug Testing at the Workplace Employees in law enforcement, public health and safety, and national security should all be subjected to random drug testing.
• Drug Errors: Enhancing Care Quality and Safety Though numerous new technologies have been developed to improve healthcare delivery, drug errors continue to be an issue in the United States.
• Drug Repurposing in Cancer Treatment This article examines the concept of drug repurposing in the context of pharmaceutical companies’ innovation policy: the methods and economic feasibility of repurposing drugs.
• Ethics of Using Experimental Drugs It is necessary to examine whether terminal patients have a moral right to the experimental treatment and suggest possible outcomes for this type of cure.
• The war on drugs: the causes of its failures.
• The impact of the war on drugs on minorities.
• The link between the war on drugs and mass incarceration.
• Alternatives to the war on drugs.
• The war on drugs and human rights violations.
• The economic costs of the war on drugs.
• The effects of the war on drugs on drug prices and availability.
• The impact of drug prohibition on drug use patterns.
• The influence of the war on drugs on drug-producing countries.
• Unintended adverse effects of the war on drugs.
• Public Policies Related to Drug Addiction Public policies related to drug addiction need to be enforced in a compassionate manner that pays attention to the unique needs of American society.
• Economic Evaluation: Prevention of Suicide and Drug Overdose The economic evaluation of the provided scenario was conducted in four dimensions: cost-of-illness, programmatic, benefit-cost, and cost-effectiveness analyses.
• The War on Drugs in the United States The United States government’s combat with substance abuse is called the “War on Drugs,” addressing the campaign initiated by President Nixon.
• Zero Discrimination for People Who Use Drugs From all of the above, it follows that HIV-infected prisoners should have the same access to timely and high-quality medical care as the population.
• The Drug Abuse Problem in Indiana Drug usage is one of Indiana’s most serious societal problems, affecting the state’s health, economy, behavioral, and criminal elements.
• The Effect of an Antimicrobial Drug on Gene Expression This paper critically evaluates methods and techniques that can be used to assess the effect of an antimicrobial drug on global gene expression.
• Drugs: Myths and Misconceptions Starting from the very beginning of the twentieth century and ending even today, drugs as a topic have been surrounded by a mass of myths and misconceptions.
• Sexually Transmitted Diseases Transmission Involving Drug Use Preventive techniques need to target drug addicts and sex workers to combat the STD epidemic and offer interventions to reduce risky sexual behaviors and drug use.
• Psychotropic Drugs Usage, Effects, Consequences Numerous aspects determine the effectiveness of drug therapy with psychotropic medication, for example, the appropriateness of the choice of pills for the disease.
• The Problems of Drug Misuse and Abuse and Their Management This research aims to determine the best ways to prescript drugs, the importance of drug interactions, and the potential dangers of drug abuse.
• Drug Prescription Issues and Abuse This paper aims to determine the best ways to prescript drugs, the importance of drug interactions, and the potential dangers of drug abuse.
• History of Drug Use in Incarceration The history of drug use in prisons go beyond 2008 with some documents indicating a steady rise in drug use between 1980 and 2008.
• Rohypnol and Illegal Drugs in Clinical Trials The current paper discusses Rohypnol. It is a generic drug known as flunitrazepam which contains lorazepam, diazepam, and alprazolam.
• Media Misinformation About Drug Use The United States is one of the countries with the strictest policies, rules, and regulations against the peddling and abuse of illicit drugs.
• A Spontaneous Reporting System for Drug Safety Surveillance Post-marketing in clinical trials uses a spontaneous reporting system for drug safety surveillance where potential AEs induced by the drugs are detected.
• The Influence of Drugs and Alcohol on Date Rape While drugs can affect mental health and make the victim forget everything, the perpetrators indulge in alcohol abuse to escape the blame and deny non-consensual sex.
• Drug Abuse Demographics in Prisons Drug abuse, including alcohol, is a big problem for the people contained in prisons, both in the United States and worldwide.
• Drug-Resistant Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Strains As with any other infectious disease, TB exhibits specific signs and symptoms that help distinguish it from other illnesses.
• Correlation of HIV, AIDS in White Males Who Are Injection Drug Users The testable hypothesis for this work states that socioeconomic status is correlated with HIV/AIDS in white males who are injection drug users.
• Assessment and Therapeutic Approaches for Drug Addiction Clients The paper uses various drug addiction assessment methods to examine the severity, give clinicians insight into the problem and assist in psychotherapy.
• COVID-19 Epidemic and Alcohol and Drug Addiction The sudden life changes during the COVID-19 epidemic make it difficult for people who suffer from alcohol and drug dependence to fight their addictions.
• High-Level Drug Trafficking in Australia Media articles explain the problem of narcotics trafficking across the Australian border. Australia is an effective participant in international drug trafficking organizations.
• Drug Addiction and Stigmatization The horrifying nature of stigmatization is one of the perplexing factors of drug addiction, so society should understand the role of mental and physical help for such people.
• Drug Addiction: Analysis of Goeders and Guerin Research Goeders & Guerin (1994) point out that anxiety and stress may be involved in drug use and increased risk of dependency, as these are involved in the etiology of cocaine use.
• COVID-19 and Drugs at Schools as Public Health Issues This paper discusses two articles on community and public health issues, specifically, concerning COVID vaccination and drugs at schools.
• Drugs for Neglected Disease Initiative There is a significant unmet need for the treatment of many neglected diseases, as well as for patient groups impacted by these.
• Drug Abuse at the Workplace and a Policy to Address It In this proposal, a policy to address worker substance abuse and addiction, will be discussed, with both its major goals and potential benefits being outlines.
• Act Liability for Price-Fixing of Generic Drugs The United States Department of Justice reported that Apotex Corporation, among other drug manufacturers, paid over $400 to settle violations of the False Claims Act.
• The Emergence of Drug-Resistant Pathogens The drug-resistant pathogens phenomenon has endangered the efficacy of drugs such as antibiotics which have helped transform modern medicine and saved countless lives.
• Non-Performance Enhancing Drugs in Sports The use of drugs is prohibited in professional sports. As for the drugs that do not improve performance, they also require control.
• Forensic Drug Analysis Course: Reflection The most interesting part of the course is the study of various techniques for the analysis of substances and their impact on forensic research.
• The Adverse Consequences of Substance Use Tool and the Psychoactive Drug History The patient is a 25-years old White male, homosexual, currently single. He has a medical history of having a severe case of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, clinical depression.
• Vaccine and Antiviral Drug Supply and Distribution Problem Once the cause of the vaccine and antiviral drugs supply and distribution problem is established, it becomes possible to offer a solution.
• Drug Addiction Treatment & Benchmark Program Drug addiction is an illness that has no easy cure but instead requires in-depth research to take into account various therapy factors.
• The Mexican Drug War and “Queen of the South” The purpose of this paper is to explore how the Mexican drug war and cartels and their influences on Hispanic culture are reflected in this Netflix series.
• Improving Drug Administration in Healthcare Facility The improvement plan consists of consecutive steps to be followed by a medical facility to ensure drug administration safety.
• Decriminalizing the Simple Possession of Illegal Drugs The decriminalization of illicit drugs has been mentioned as one of the most effective ways of dealing with the crisis in America.
• National Association for Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors This paper will consider the fourth principle of the organization’s ethical code, which reads: “Working in a culturally diverse world.”
• Law Enforcement of Drug Business on the Demand Side Law enforcement of the drug business on the demand side would not be an effective method of reducing the market.
• Evaluating Harm Reduction Program for Drug Users The target population of this quantitative study includes substance users with a focus on drug addicts. Harm reduction program addresses the needs of drug addicts who seek help.
• Effects of the War on Drugs on Latinos in the US and the Role of Stereotypes
• The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Globalization
• Six Stages of Change: Treatment Approaches for Drug Addiction
• Types of Drugs and Types of Domestic Abuse Correlation
• Drug Production During Crisis: The Case of COVID-19
• High U.S. Drug Prices: Health Policy Log
• Why Adolescents Take Drugs: Human Development
• Prescription Drug Abuse Problem
• War on Drugs: Causes and Problems
• Drug War in Border Cities: Causes and Consequences
• Consumption of Illicit Drugs in the United States
• Court Decisions on Drug Offenders
• Drug Use and Addiction Correlations
• Analysis of Drug Classification
• Support for the Legalization of the Drug Consumption
• Analysis of Drugs in American Society by E. Goode
• Male Health Drugs:Overview and Effects
• Alcohol and Other Drug Use Among the Aboriginal and Torres Islander People
• Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986: Crack vs. Cocaine Sentencing Disparity
• The Effect of Prohibition Alcohol and Drug Use
• Escalating Drug Prices: Solution to the Problem
• How Liquid Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry is Used in Drug Screening
• Random Drug Testing: Pros and Cons
• Drugs in the Modern Sports
• Patient Rights to Experimental Drugs
• Drug Issues in Watertown, New York
• Accessory Plus Incorporated’s Drug Abuse Case
• Racism, Racial Profiling and Bias in the War on Drugs
• Children Insecurity in the Context of Mother’s Drug Misuse
• Variables That Impact Sentencing Decision of Judges in Drug Offender Cases
• The Drug Trafficking as Organized Crime
• The Effectiveness of Drugs in Medicine
• Drug Trafficking and Terrorism in the Middle East
• Drugs and Crime Committed Under the Influence
• Combating the Local Drug Distribution in Missouri
• Colombian and Mexican Drug Cartels and Their Impact in the U.S.
• Prescription Drug Abuse as a Community Health Issue
• Crime Trends: Drug Abuse in Adults and Juveniles
• Substance Abuse: Alcohol and Drugs in the Movie “Ray”
• Trade and Usage Control: Drug Enforcement Administration
• “Addicts Who Survived” by David Courtwright: American Addiction to Narcotics Problem and Anti-drug Policies
• The Interrelationship Among a Bacterial Pathogen and Antimicrobial Drugs
• Should All or Certain Drugs Be Legalized?
• Drug Abuse in Correction Facilities
• Distribution of Fake Drugs: Analysis of a Criminal Case
• An Overview of Drug Addiction
• Reducing the Number of Adverse Drug Events Among Older Adults: An Action Plan
• A Study of Drug Allergy, Iron Poisoning and Abnormal Bone Mineral Metabolism
• Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act Amendment
• The Role of Forensics in the War on Drugs
• Schizophrenia Treatment With Approved Drug
• Drugs and Crime Description: Federal Drug Statutes
• Patients Receiving Antipsychotic Drugs: Neuroleptic Syndrome
• The U.S. Drug Prices Assessment
• The Drug Courts: The Question of Drug Abuse
• Judicial Process in Drug Offender Cases: Research Design
• Drugs for Treating Schizophrenia and Mood Disorders
• The Importation of Drugs into the United States
• Drug Courts and Criminal Courts Compared
• Americcan College of Radiology Protocol and Cancer Therapy Response to Antiangiogenetic Drug
• Community Health: Prescription Drug Abuse
• The Concept of the “War on Drugs”
• Two Acts on Drug Law Comparison
• Quality Patient Care: Drug Errors and Nurses
• Drug Addiction: Elimination of Incarcerations
• Juveniles and Drugs in the US
• Carl Hart’s Talk on Racism, Poverty, and Drugs
• The Control the Availability of Illicit Drugs
• Why Government Needs Drug Control Policy?
• Pharmacogenomics Impact on Individual Drug Effectiveness
• Drug Use and Biological Development in Adolescents
• Reality in Drug Addiction Research: Ethnography
• The Drug Abuse in the U.S. Navy: The Problem Analysis
• The High Cost of Specialty Drugs
• Overmedication of Children With Psychotropic Drugs
• Misguided Perception of Drug Addiction
• Drug Testing Problem Reflection
• International Drug Policy in Russia and the US
• OxyContin as a Legitimate Drug and a Drug of Abuse
• Drug Trade. “Crack” Book by David Farber
• Drug Abuse Factors: Substance Use Disorder
• Prescription Drug Cost Transparency
• Effects of Drugs on the State of Consciousness
• Response to a Journal Article on Drug Control Policy
• Ilaris(R)-Drug Usage in U.S. and Australia
• Legalization of Marijuana and Other Illegal Drugs
• The Problem of Increased Morbidity From Adverse Drug Events in Older Adults
• Drug Abuse and Addiction: Risk Factors
• Bacterial Cells and Chemotherapeutic Drugs
• Detention of a Minor While Using Drugs
• The Relations Between Drug Abuse and Criminal Justice
• Cocaine as a Drug Chosen for Medical Research
• Drug and Alcohol Abuse in Organizations
• Specialty Drugs Costs and Insurance
• Legalization of Marijuana: The Pros and Cons of the Drug
• Drug Abuse: Impaired American Society
• The Issue of Drug Abuse in the Community of Kinsburg
• Caffeine and Performance of Drugs in Adolescents
• Adolescent Drug Abuse: Diagnosis and Cultural Awareness
• Support Services and the Case Review: Drug and Alcohol Addiction
• Health Reform Bill on Drugs in the United States
• Research Design for a New Drug That Reduces Appetite
• The Money Factor in Drug and Alcohol Treatment
• The Problem of Prescription Drug Abuse in the United States
• Performance Enhancing Drugs and the Student Athletes
• Clandestine Drug Laboratory Dangers
• Drug Use, Dealing and Violence
• Global Trends Affecting a Local Drug and Alcohol Rehab Centers
• Drugs to Wipe Out Traumatic Memories
• Mexican Drug Cartels: A Transnational Threat
• Information Technology and Mexican Drug Cartels
• The Relationship Between Drugs and Addiction to Crime
• Investigating the Issue of Drug Trafficking Through the Points
• Profession of US Drug Enforcement Agent
• Random Drug Test on College Athletes
• Drugs and Society Violent Crime: Public Drunkenness
• Opioid Drug Regulation: Legislative Letter
• American Prohibition and the War Against Drugs
• Drug Abuse and Drug Addiction and Various Policies Related to Drugs
• Drug Abuse and Crime Correlation
• Mandatory Job Drug Test Should Be Allowed
• Drug Addiction: The Problem of Xanax Abuse and Its Consequences
• Physical Privacy and Drug Testing
• Sports Violations: Drug Use in Baseball
• Anti-Drugs, Alcohol and Tobacco Education Programs
• Criminal Justice System: Drugs and Crime
• “Blood for Sale” and “Drug Dilemmas”: Articles Reviews
• Legalizing Drugs, an Irrational and Harmful Choice
• Drug Abuse Among Teenagers
• Pharmacology: Drug Licensing Opportunity
• Mifepristone Drug: To Approve or to Disapprove?
• Criminal Justice Ethics: Police Corruption & Drug Sales
• Prescribed Drugs With Complementary and Alternative Medicines
• Current Sources of Evidence-Based Standards and Guidelines for Prescribing Psychiatric Drugs
• Drug Addiction Is a Chronic Disease
• Drug Theme in “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin
• Drug Trafficking: Investigation on Frank Lucas
• Law: Drug Treatment and Testing Orders
• Drug Use in the Workplace: The Case of Acme-Antiroadrunner Inc.
• Violence in the 20th-Century Latin America: Colombian Drug Wars, Dictatorship in Chile, and Undiscovered Personal Tragedies
• Drug Abuse Case: Jenny G
• Nurse Misconduct and Drug Diversion as Legal Issue
• E-Prescribing Drug Technology in the Healthcare
• Computerized Provider Order Entry Against Drug Errors
• Drug Monitoring and Florida’s State Strategies
• Drug Prescription Policy Analysis
• Prescription Drug Misuse in Elderly Patients
• Improper Drug Administration as a Nursing Practice Issue
• Food and Drug Administration – Regulatory Agency
• Fear Appeal in Anti-Drug Abuse Public Campaign
• Organized Crime and Drug Trafficking Offenders
• Soderbergh’s Traffic and the U.S. War on Drugs
• Public Policy Meeting: Prescription Drug Supply and Cost
• Mandatory Drug Testing for Welfare Recipients
• Health Policy: 340B Drug Pricing Program
• Drug-Dealing Organizations in Latin American Politics
• Drugs and Society: Drug Use and Its Impact on Culture and Society
• Random Drug Testing in Schools
• Psychoactive Drugs, Society, and Human Behaviour
• Black Theology and Its Impact on Drug Addiction
• Drug and Alcohol Abuse Treatment Effectiveness
• Drug Trafficking Reduction in the United States
• Undercover Police Investigations in Drug-Related Crimes
• “Adolescent Alcoholism and Drug Addiction” by Choate
• Behind the War on Drugs
• Drug Test on Welfare Recipients
• Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs and Aspirin
• Drug Abuse Treatment in Nursing
• Pramlintide as Anti-Diabetic Drug
• Antiseizure Medications and Antipsychotic Drugs
• The Drug Enforcement Administration Business Model
• Addressing the Growing Cost of the Prescription Drugs
• Nurse Practitioner as a Drug Prescriber
• Pharmacy and Policy: Inappropriate Prescription of Drugs
• Teenage Drug and Substance Abuse
• Drug Abuse Among Homeless People in Miami
• The Problem of Drug Use and Heroin Addiction in US
• Using Free and Secure Trade to Smuggle Drugs
• Food and Drug Administration Fast-Track Approval
• Healthcare Financing and Drug Addiction
• Ethics of Abortion and Over-the-Counter Drugs
• Drug Therapy: Nicotine Interference with Contraceptives
• Drugs Comparison: Montelukast, Flovent and Albuterol
• Prescription Drug Use in the United States
• Drug Safety Approach in Advanced Nursing Practice
• Drug Abuse, HIV/AIDS, and Songs on Social Issues
• Drug War Failure and Associated Problems
• Adverse Drug Events: Evidence-Based Project
• Miami-Dade Community Needs: Alcohol and Drug Addiction
• Can Hospitals Manufacture Drugs in the US?
• Female Drug Abuser’s Recovery Care Plan
• Nonmedical Use of Drugs and Negative Sexual Events
• The War on Drugs and the Corrections System
• Drug-Drug and Food-Drug Interactions
• Casinos: Occupational Safety and Drug-Free Workplace
• Drug Safety Approach in Administration and Nursing
• Drug War’s Impact on the US Correction System
• American Drug War and Its Ineffectiveness
• How Mexico Drug Cartels Are Supporting Conflicts?
• Sentencing Policies on Drug Offences
• Drug Dealing Reasons in East Harlem, New York City
• Drug Courts Policy and Its Evaluation
• Drugs and Jazz in James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues”
• American Great Wall to Reduce the Number of Illegal Immigrants and Illegal Drugs
• Analysis of Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis: Characteristics, Treatment and Prevention
• Illicit Drug Use Among American Youths
• Minimizing Prescription Drug Abuse in Oklahoma
• Performance Enhancing Drugs and Professional Sport
• Sociology: Prevention of Alcohol and Drug Problem
• Crisis of Chemical Dependence: Drug Abuse
• The Phenomenon of The Use of Prescription Drugs
• Drugs and Prison Overcrowding

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StudyCorgi. (2021, September 9). 429 Drugs Essay Topics & Research Questions + Examples. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/drugs-essay-topics/

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StudyCorgi . "429 Drugs Essay Topics & Research Questions + Examples." September 9, 2021. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/drugs-essay-topics/.

StudyCorgi . 2021. "429 Drugs Essay Topics & Research Questions + Examples." September 9, 2021. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/drugs-essay-topics/.

These essay examples and topics on Drugs were carefully selected by the StudyCorgi editorial team. They meet our highest standards in terms of grammar, punctuation, style, and fact accuracy. Please ensure you properly reference the materials if you’re using them to write your assignment.

This essay topic collection was updated on June 21, 2024 .

108 Drug Abuse Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best drug abuse topic ideas & essay examples, 👍 good essay topics on drug abuse, 💡 most interesting drug abuse topics to write about, ❓ drug abuse research questions.

Drug abuse essays are an excellent way to learn about the issue and its influence on various groups and populations while demonstrating your understanding.

Various substances, including alcohol, narcotics, and other mind-altering products, are a popular method for recreation in some communities.

However, they are prone to result in addiction, psychological as well as mental, and lead the person to pursue another dose before anything else.

In doing so, he or she can eventually ruin his or her life, which is why most drugs are currently banned around the world. This article will offer you some tips that will help you write an excellent essay and receive the top grade.

Youth is a major demographic that is affected by addiction issues due to drug consumption. Young people are impressionable and prone to search for new sensations. Drugs can offer a sense of novelty and provide an experience they have not had before, leading to considerable appeal.

Considering that young people are generally not wealthy and have to focus on work to succeed in life, essays on drug among youth can use a variety of excellent topics. You can offer your ideas on the reason for the phenomenon’s existence and ways in which it can be prevented.

However, remember that the purpose of the programs should be to help the people who are at risk.

There are many other drug abuse essay topics that you can explore, with poverty being a prominent example. Despite their conditions, many people turn to substance abuse to try and escape the unpleasant aspects of their life.

These population segments are more likely to suffer after acquiring a drug habit than young people because they generally receive less attention.

Furthermore, poor neighborhoods with relatively low amounts of surveillance by law enforcement are likely to house drug dealers who prey on vulnerable people.

You can discuss this topic or discuss a variety of other ones, as the relationship between poverty and poor outcomes has been researched deeply.

Here are some additional tips for your essay:

• Try to use examples to illustrate your points about various aspects of the issue. Drug addiction essay quotations from people who are affected by the condition or have overcome it can offer valuable insights. They also legitimize your findings by providing parallels with the real world.
• Alcohol essays are an excellent choice, as the substance is legal and available to everyone without much difficulty. Nevertheless, its effects can be devastating, especially if a person’s consumption is chronic.
• Try to write a drug abuse essay outline before starting work, as it will help you to organize the essay. Select some prominent ideas that you want to discuss and organize them in a manner that represents a logical progression. You do not have to discard all of the other concepts, as you can make them sub-headings under your main titles.
• Be sure to include a drug abuse essay introduction and conclusion in your work. They will help you provide a structure to the essay and make it easier for the reader to understand your ideas. The introduction should describe the topic and provide the thesis, and the conclusion should restate your main points.

Visit IvyPanda for drug abuse essay titles, and other useful samples on various subjects to help you with your writing work!

• Drug Trafficking and Drug Abuse Drug trafficking contributes to drug abuse in the society. Drug trafficking also contributes to increased criminal activities that affect the security of citizens.
• Drug Abuse and Current Generation Drug abuse also breeds an array of behavioral problems among young people, which may affect their suitability to fit in the society.
• Social Media Impact on Drug Abuse Thus, social media platforms definitely contribute to the misuse of various drugs by romanticizing their consumption and making “social drug use” acceptable among users.
• Drug and Alcohol Abuse For along time now, drug and alcohol abuse in the society has been a problem that affects the youth and the society at large. This paper highlights the problems of drug abuse and alcohol drinking […]
• Consequences of Drug Abuse The endless stream of drugs, obtainable to the individuals with little or no restrictions, poses a serious inquiry. When assessing the advantages of using pharmaceutical drugs, it is essential to consider the severity of health […]
• Drug Abuse & Its Effects on Families Focusing on the family seems to be by far, the most known and effective way of finding a solution with regards to the “war on drugs” since it more promising to end the vicious cycle […]
• Drug and Substance Abuse Many experts consider addiction as a disease as it affects a specific part of the brain; the limbic system commonly referred to as the pleasure center.
• Prevention Research: The Fight Against Drug Abuse It is agreeable that US’s ‘War on Drugs’ has been an effective substance abuse prevention plan despite the hiccups that the program faces and its inability to attain some of its designated mandates within the […]
• Substance Abuse: Prevention Strategies and National Benchmarks Still, this desire to get away from problems by means of substances instead of making effort to improve an individual’s environment contributed to the evolution of the challenge of substance abuse into a real public […]
• Prevention Programs: Drug Abuse Resistance Education This program focuses on handling peer pressure among youths, a crucial cause of drug abuse in the country. The program is also grounded on sound research, which offers the critical elements vital to handling the […]
• Drug Abuse in Adolescents and Its Causes Scientific research shows that the development factors for adolescent drug abuse are not limited to a set of three to five causes, but are usually linked to the integration of destructive environmental conditions.
• Merton’s Argument of Deviance: The Case of Drug Abuse The most prominent example in support of Merton’s argument in relation to drug abuse is that cultural and social circumstances play a crucial role in defining people’s desire to engage in drug use.
• Drug Abuse Among the Youth Essentially, this case study will allow the evaluation of the prevailing cases of drug abuse among the youth. In this regard, the pain and peer pleasure cannot be persevered to allow an explicit cure of […]
• Teenage Drug Abuse in the United States The problem of teenage drug abuse inflicts a threat to the future society and health state of the overall population in the United States.
• Youth Drug Abuse Among, Education, and Policies Although drug abuse encompasses improper use of drugs disregarding the prescriptions of medical practitioners, the principal challenges of drug abuse occasion from abuse of drugs such as cocaine, heroin, and marijuana.
• The Formative Evaluation: Program of Addressing Drug Abuse in Schools The proposed program sought to educate students about the challenges of drug abuse, its impacts on academic performance, and the best techniques to avoid the vice.
• Drug Abuse. “Nine Years Under” Book by Sheri Booker The book is thought provoking and important because it allows representing the difficult social situation and the problems of gang violence and drugs in the United States from the personal point of view.
• Drug Abuse and Prevention Strategies When specialists deal with preventative factors, they pay attention to both mental and physical ways to resist the drug. The symbiosis of these procedures is exceptionally efficient in terms of the drug rehabilitation process when […]
• Reasons Behind Youth’s Engagement to Drug Abuse in the 21st Century Although youths in the 21st century engage in drug abuse due to several factors, it suffices to declare factors such as the rising unemployment status, peer pressure, and their hiked tendency to copy their parents’ […]
• Drug Abuse and Society Regardless of the many intervention measures that can be adopted to solve this problem of drug abuse, the most effective intervention measure is to create awareness to youths to enable them change their behaviors and […]
• Music Analysis: Drug Abuse in Music So in this song the artist is also lamenting the dangers of drugs and the theme of the music is one that advocates against tackling the problem with issues of drug abuse by arguing the […]
• Drug Abuse as a Social Problem This poses as problem to the society because many of the people who are unemployed will resort to different ways of seeking money and pleasure.
• Drug Abuse and Its Psychological Effects The purpose of this paper is to explore in more depth the psychological effects of addiction on the family and inner circle of the addict.
• Drug Abuse, Aggression and Antisocial Behavior The use of abusive drugs can cause anger in people because of the effect they have on the brain. An example of how alcohol can cause aggression in a person is that it impairs an […]
• Policies for Pregnant Women With Drug Abuse Thus, out of all the offered policies, financial support for therapy is the best one, as it motivates prevention and treatment, which, in turn, causes the improvement of this situation.
• Alcohol and Drug Abuse in Canada Therefore, it contributes as a central factor in the essence of the character, and it is crucial to understand the core definition and the elements that foster the ideology.
• Mitigating Drug Abuse in Pine View School The inclusion of professionals in the fields of health care, counseling, and drugs is expected to promote the delivery of desirable results.
• Drug Abuse and Its Negative Effects This paper aims to highlight what the field of psychology says about the negative effects of drugs and why people continue using despite the consequences. The main effect is that it creates a memory of […]
• Drug Abuse in Lake County, California The topic of drug abuse is essential for discussion due to the need to develop strategies to prevent and minimize the dangerous consequences of drug abuse in different regions.
• Drug Abuse Among Homeless Young Adults in New Jersey The reason why young adults in New Jersey get involved in drugs and alcohol after becoming homeless is to manage their situations in an attempt to attain the tentative pleasure of life despite their problems. […]
• Community Intervention Practices Against Drug Abuse The key features that result in successful community-based intervention on drug abuse are integrated for effectiveness and efficiency. On the other hand, drug abuse refers to the consumption of substances that elicit particular feelings and […]
• Drug Abuse Effects on Health and Nervous System These numerous damages severely affect the quality of the brains work and the health of the nervous system. While discussing the effects of drug addiction, it is essential to notice that it has a devastating […]
• Alcoholism, Domestic Violence and Drug Abuse Kaur and Ajinkya researched to investigate the “psychological impact of adult alcoholism on spouses and children”. The work of Kaur and Ajinkya, reveals a link between chronic alcoholism and emotional problems on the spouse and […]
• Monitoring the Future: National Survey Results on Drug Use National survey results on drug use obtained by Monitoring the Future have a significant value to the development of various approaches with regard to the prevention of drug abuse.
• The Health Issues Associated With Drug Abuse It is therefore imperative to develop strategies for health promotion to reduce the number of teenagers, the most at-risk family member when it comes to drug abuse.
• Fentanyl – Drug Profile and Specific and Drug Abuse The drug has the effect of depressing the respiratory center, constricting the pupils, as well as depressing the cough reflex. The remainder 75% of fentanyl is swallowed and absorbed in G-tract.
• Cases of Drug Abuse Amongst Nursing Professionals It is noteworthy that at the top of the information, the date posted is Monday, February 14, 2011, yet against the information, the date is February 11, 2011.
• The Treatment of Drug Abuse Any medical practitioner treating a drug abuse patient has to be careful in many aspects, like: He has to be careful on the issue that if the addiction has effected the brain of the patient.
• Drug Courts and Detoxification: Approach to Drug Abuse Treatment However, since 1989, the US federal system has been providing the majority of drug abusers with proper treatment or education with the help of a drug court option.
• Drug Abuse in Adolescents Aged 15-19 Years Old: A Public Health Menace In addition, the objectives of the paper are as follows: the first aim is to analyze the collected data and produce a review of the information.
• Drug Abuse and Addiction Holimon has succeeded in reviving some of her family relations, and she is still putting a lot of effort to get ahead in this area to the fullest extent possible.
• Sports as a Solution to Youth Substance Abuse: Dr. Collingwood’s View His comments made me realize that it would be unwise by the end of the day for any parent to leave their children under the mercy of the media where they learned that doing drugs […]
• Drug Abuse in High School and College With respect to social work and the problem of substance abuse, research has been carried out in terms of investigating the relationship between drug abuse and poverty, the effects of drug abuse on the society.
• Critical Issues in Education: Drug Abuse and Alcoholism For this case, the ministry concerned has a very hard task of ensuring there are no critical issues that are left unsolved that relate to education, failure to which will affect the performance of students […]
• The DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) Program’s Effectiveness While evaluating the effectiveness of the DARE program analysis in accordance with the methodologies and evaluation criteria used, the given assessments refer to various methods of the analysis of participants, as well as various data […]
• Biopsychosocial Experience in Drug Abuse Treatment There has to be a preventive strategy in every intervention procedure to avoid the occurrence of a disease. I find the course of treatment in this intervention beneficial for the creation of the needed preventive […]
• Addictive Behavior Programs and Drug Abuse Trends The involvement of stakeholders is an essential condition for the effectiveness of this model of work and its results, and all the roles should be allocated in accordance with the capabilities of the program’s participants.
• Substance Misuse in American Youth: A Socio-Cultural Analysis The paper analyzes studies regarding some of the most widespread types of substances, as well as discusses the role of the rap culture in the growing number of young addicts in the U.S.
• Social Behaviour as a Science: Drug Abuse in Youth Thus, the application of social psychology to the phenomenon of youth drug abuse helps to explain how social factors impact the prevalence of and risk for drug abuse.
• ACTIQ Prescription Drug Abuse The fast-acting characteristic of ACTIQ is a result of being absorbed in the mucosal lining of the mouth. ACTIQ is a synthetic drug that is available as lozenges/lollipops, which are designed to be sucked in […]
• Prescription Drug Abuse and Lebanon Students The first two authors are the representatives of the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health at the American University of Beirut, and Martins is from the Department of Mental Health, the John Hopkins University.
• Financial Planning for Drug Abuse Prevention in Virginia Estates Therefore, the first preferred sources for the program are the County Commission and the Alabama Department of Corrections. The program can be financed by the Montgomery County Commission in the short term and Alabama Department […]
• Addressing the Drug Abuse in Parolees and Probationers The aim of the program is to address the drug abuse in parolees and probationers during their probations and decrease the use of drugs in them.
• Problem of Drug Abuse in Schools The research worked on the hypothesis that the treatment would reduce or result in the total cessation of drug use, and better relations with family and friends.
• Prescription Drug Abuse in the United States The combination of Ibuprofen and acetaminophen are effective for the patients, who want to reduce and control the level of pain.
• Drug Use Among Parolees and Probationers: A Comprehensive Plan To reduce drug use in probationers and the probability of a new crime, the approach to drug testing needs to be changed.
• Drug Abuse and Medicaid Program The emergence of alcohol and drug abuse as a problem and the intensification of people with mental health problems, have exposed the society to the likelihood of involvement of the population in substance abuse.
• Impact of Drug Abuse on Adolescent Development Therefore, it is important for counselors to consider these stages to help them address the issue of substance abuse among adolescents. In the habitual stage, most adolescents take drugs to help them modify their moods.
• Drug Abuse: Age, Gender and Addictive Susceptibility This incorporates the aspects of gender where males and females possess varying biological constitutions that might affect the prescribed treatments in the realms of addiction. It is important to consider the rapidity and susceptibility of […]
• Drug Abuse Prevention Programs Additionally, it is possible to prospect the success of the program in case the required readiness from the community can be unveiled prior to the program execution.
• The Cultural Context and Ethics of Prevention of Drug Abuse The first prevention strategy outlined in the document is the involvement of young people in all levels of the prevention program establishment. Concurrently, it is crucial to relate this technique with the subject of culture […]
• Use of Psychotropic Medications in the Treatment of Drug Abuse This is because the mental illness is, literally, the one that sustains the abuse of drugs and thus after it is healed; the patient will have no reason to continue abusing the drugs.
• Drug Abuse: Awareness Amongst the Youths This project is going to carry out a public awareness campaign with the aim of educating the young people on the hazards related to the vice of drug and substance abuse. The awareness campaign is […]
• A New Alcohol and Drug-Abuse Rehabilitation Center in Liverpool Hospital, Sydney The hospital, in response to this distress, has decided to bring help closer to the people of Liverpool by the construction of the annex facility.
• Spirituality Effect on Drug Abuse Treatment Programs The hypothesis of the study was that spirituality is appropriate in the formal treatment of addiction; the study confirmed this hypothesis.
• Drug Abuse and Religious Spirituality Concept Particularly, this high rate of relapses was determined by Olmstead et al.as a direct result of a degree of failure on the part of drug abuse treatment programs to sufficiently address the primary reason why […]
• Drug Abuse and Harmful Health Effects The principle recognizes the importance of helping drug addicts out of the activity but also sees the importance of protecting their rights to health matters if the country is to realize economic development.
• The Extent of Drug Abuse Among People in America Toronto Mayor Rob Ford Said He Lied about Crack Cocaine Use Because He Was Embarrassed Mayor lied about the use of crack cocaine The article titled “Toronto Mayor Rob Ford said he lied about crack […]
• Drug Use and Abuse in America: Historical Analysis The new law was similar to the Boggs Act of 1951 in that it employed the same formula of using perceived increase in drug use in the country.
• Drug Abuse as an Ethical Issue On the side of duties and obligations, the societal norms stipulate that individuals should be caring to other members of the society especially the children and the old.
• “Cocaine: Abuse and Addiction” by National Institute on Drug Abuse The literature provides us with a report of a research that has been conducted in the US regarding the topic of cocaine and drug abuse.
• Prescription Painkillers, the New Drug Abuse of Choice Studies attribute the recent increase in the misuse of prescription drugs to an increase in the use of the Internet, which facilitates the growth of illegitimate online drug stores and uncontrolled online prescription drug sales.
• Drug Abuse: Comprehensive Review The effects associated with drug abuse tend to vary depending on an individual’s age and the phase of drug abuse that the person is in.
• Adolescent’s Drug Abuse and Therapy Success When one accepts to put up with negative peer pressure, they end up giving up the personal trusts and values thus the pressure becomes a form of a negative force.”Does peer pressure affect the decision […]
• What Are Influences That Cause Drug Abuse on Youth?
• What Are Some Solutions to Drug Abuse?
• What Are the Primary Causes and Effects of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Among Young People?
• What Causes Teenage Drug Abuse?
• What Does Drug Abuse Truly?
• Why Do Children Need to Be Educated About Drug Abuse?
• Why Has the American Government Not Managed to Stop Drug Abuse All These Years?
• How Does Drug Abuse Affect Personal Development of Hong Kong Teenagers?
• How Does Pericarditis Form Due to Drug Abuse?
• How Drug Abuse Ruins Families and Destroys Relationships?
• How Does Prescription Drug Abuse Affect Teens?
• Does the Drug Abuse Resistance Education Program Work?
• What Is the Drug of Abuse?
• What Are the Four Types of Drugs Abused?
• Which Is an Example of Drug Abuse?
• What Is the Leading Cause of Drug Abuse?
• What Are the Causes and Effects of Drug Abuse?
• What Are the Main Consequences of Drug Abuse?
• How Does Drug Abuse Affect Our Society?
• How Can We Prevent Drug Abuse?
• Why Is It Essential to Prevent Drugs?
• What Are the Ten Most Abused Drugs?
• How Do Drugs Affect Mental Health?
• What Are the Effects of Drug Abuse on Youths?
• What Is the Connection Between Adolescents From Divorced Families and Drug Abuse?
• Are Alcohol and Drug Abuse the Most Common Issues of Today?
• What Is Athletes’ Motivation for Performance-Enhancement Drug Abuse?
• What Is the Correlation Between Parietal and Adolescent Drug Abuse?
• How Is Dealing With Teenage Drug Abuse?
• What Is the Difference Between Drug Use and Drug Abuse?
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• Signs of Addiction

Addiction Research

Discover the latest in addiction research, from the neuroscience of substance use disorders to evidence-based treatment practices. reports, updates, case studies and white papers are available to you at hazelden betty ford’s butler center for research..

Why do people become addicted to alcohol and other drugs? How effective is addiction treatment? What makes certain substances so addictive? The Butler Center for Research at the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation investigates these and other questions and publishes its scientific findings in a variety of alcohol and drug addiction research papers and reports. Research topics include:

• Evidence-based treatment practices
• Addiction treatment outcomes
• Addiction, psychiatry and the brain
• Addictive substances such as prescription opioids and heroin
• Substance abuse in youth/teens, older adults and other demographic groups such as health care or legal professionals

These research queries and findings are presented in the form of updates, white papers and case studies. In addition, the Butler Center for Research collaborates with the Recovery Advocacy team to study special-focus addiction research topics, summarized in monthly  Emerging Drug Trends  reports. Altogether, these studies provide the latest in addiction research for anyone interested in learning more about the neuroscience of addiction and how addiction affects individuals, families and society in general. The research also helps clinicians and health care professionals further understand, diagnose and treat drug and alcohol addiction. Learn more about each of the Butler Center's addiction research studies below.

Research Updates

Written by Butler Center for Research staff, our one-page, topic-specific summaries discuss current research on topics of interest within the drug abuse and addiction treatment field.

View our most recent updates, or view the archive at the bottom of the page.

Patient Outcomes Study Results at Hazelden Betty Ford

Trends and Patterns in Cannabis Use across Different Age Groups

Alcohol and Tobacco Harm Reduction Interventions

Harm Reduction: History and Context

Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities and Addiction

Psychedelics as Therapeutic Treatment

Sexual and Gender Minority Youth and SUDs

Health Care Professionals and Mental Health

Grief and Addiction

Helping Families Cope with Addiction

Emerging Drug Trends Report and National Surveys

Shedding New Light on America’s No. 1 Health Problem

In collaboration with the University of Maryland School of Public Health and with support from the Butler Center for Research, the Recovery Advocacy team routinely issues research reports on emerging drug trends in America. Recovery Advocacy also commissions national surveys on attitudes, behaviors and perspectives related to substance use. From binge drinking and excessive alcohol use on college campuses, to marijuana potency concerns in an age of legalized marijuana, deeper analysis and understanding of emerging drug trends allows for greater opportunities to educate, inform and prevent misuse and deaths.

Each drug trends report explores the topic at hand, documenting the prevalence of the problem, relevant demographics, prevention and treatment options available, as well as providing insight and perspectives from thought leaders throughout the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation.

View the latest  Emerging Drug Trends  Report:

Pediatricians First Responders for Preventing Substance Use

• Clearing Away the Confusion: Marijuana Is Not a Public Health Solution to the Opioid Crisis
• Does Socioeconomic Advantage Lessen the Risk of Adolescent Substance Use?
• The Collegiate Recovery Movement Is Gaining Strength
• Considerations for Policymakers Regarding Involuntary Commitment for Substance Use Disorders
• Widening the Lens on the Opioid Crisis
• Concerns Rising Over High-Potency Marijuana Use
• Beyond Binging: “High-Intensity Drinking”

View the latest  National Surveys :

• College Administrators See Problems As More Students View Marijuana As Safe

College Parents See Serious Problems From Campus Alcohol Use

• Youth Opioid Study: Attitudes and Usage

About Recovery Advocacy

Our mission is to provide a trusted national voice on all issues related to addiction prevention, treatment and recovery, and to facilitate conversation among those in recovery, those still suffering and society at large. We are committed to smashing stigma, shaping public policy and educating people everywhere about the problems of addiction and the promise of recovery. Learn more about recovery advocacy and how you can make a difference.

Evidence-Based Treatment Series

To help get consumers and clinicians on the same page, the Butler Center for Research has created a series of informational summaries describing:

• Evidence-based addiction treatment modalities
• Distinctive levels of substance use disorder treatment
• Specialized drug and alcohol treatment programs

Each evidence-based treatment series summary includes:

• A definition of the therapeutic approach, level of care or specialized program
• A discussion of applicability, usage and practice
• A description of outcomes and efficacy
• Research citations and related resources for more information

View the latest in this series:

Motivational Interviewing

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Case Studies and White Papers

Written by Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation researchers and clinicians, case studies and white papers presented by the Butler Center for Research provide invaluable insight into clinical processes and complex issues related to addiction prevention, treatment and recovery. These in-depth reports examine and chronicle clinical activities, initiatives and developments as a means of informing practitioners and continually improving the quality and delivery of substance use disorder services and related resources and initiatives.

• What does it really mean to be providing medication-assisted treatment for opioid addiction?

Adolescent Motivational Interviewing

Peer Recovery Support: Walking the Path Together

Addiction and Violence During COVID-19

The Brain Disease Model of Addiction

Healthcare Professionals and Compassion Fatigue

Moving to Trauma-Responsive Care

Virtual Intensive Outpatient Outcomes: Preliminary Findings

Driving Under the Influence of Cannabis

Vaping and E-Cigarettes

Using Telehealth for Addiction Treatment

Grandparents Raising Grandchildren

Substance Use Disorders Among Military Populations

Co-Occurring Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders

Women and Alcohol

Prescription Rates of Opioid Analgesics in Medical Treatment Settings

Applications of Positive Psychology to Substance Use Disorder

Substance Use Disorders Among Legal Professionals

Factors Impacting Early Alcohol and Drug Use Among Youths

Animal-Assisted Therapy for Substance Use Disorders

Prevalence of Adolescent Substance Misuse

Problem Drinking Behaviors Among College Students

The Importance of Recovery Management

Substance Use Factors Among LGBTQ individuals

Prescription Opioids and Dependence

Alcohol Abuse Among Law Enforcement Officers

Helping Families Cope with Substance Dependence

The Social Norms Approach to Student Substance Abuse Prevention

Drug Abuse, Dopamine and the Brain's Reward System

Women and Substance Abuse

Substance Use in the Workplace

Health Care Professionals: Addiction and Treatment

Cognitive Improvement and Alcohol Recovery

Drug Use, Misuse and Dependence Among Older Adults

Emerging Drug Trends

Does Socioeconomic Advantage Lessen the Risk of Adolescent Substance Use

The Collegiate Recovery Movement is Gaining Strength

Involuntary Commitment for Substance Use Disorders

Widening the Lens of the Opioid Crisis

Beyond Binge Drinking: High Intensity Drinking

High Potency Marijuana

National Surveys

College Administrators See Problems as More Students View Marijuana as Safe

Risky Opioid Use Among College-Age Youth

Case Studies/ White Papers

What does it really mean to be providing medication-assisted treatment for opioid addiction

Are you or a loved one struggling with alcohol or other drugs? Call today to speak confidentially with a recovery expert. Most insurance accepted.

Harnessing science, love and the wisdom of lived experience, we are a force of healing and hope ​​​​​​​for individuals, families and communities affected by substance use and mental health conditions..

60+ Addiction Topics to Inspire You for a Great Paper

There are many forms of addictions that afflict humanity today. People who suffer from drug abuse, alcohol, or another type of addiction deserve to speak about their issues. Students among world-recognized universities unite to explore this problem, so the topic of drug addiction is becoming more and more relevant today. We also don’t want to gloss over the problem, so we recommend you to read our 60+ ideas on various addiction forms and select the best.

Drug abuse research topics

• Overdosing is the main sign of drug abuse.
• The rules for taking drugs legally due to health conditions and individual needs.
• Drug addiction as a way to overcome difficult life situations.
• The problem of drug abuse in the USA in 2020.
• How does taking drugs affect personal and professional relationships?
• Substance abuse is the number one problem among the young generation today.
• How to work on escaping from drugs: methods and results.
• Mental and physical treatments of drug abusers.
• Differentiating drug groups and their impact on mental health and overall well-being.
• Legal cases of drug use.
• The symptoms of overdose and emergency first aid.
• Positive cases of breaking from using hard drugs.
• Can breaking up the logistics of the drug trade prevent drug usage worldwide?
• How does drug abuse cause crimes?
• Has the legalization of certain drugs caused drug abuse among the youth? Or is avoiding drugs about willpower?
• The psychological change of a person who abused drugs.
• How drug abuse affects a country’s economics.
• Methamphetamine abuse in Franklin County: ways to help the problem.
• Starting light drugs is the first step toward hard drugs. Is this statement true?
• How can the government protect a person with drug addiction? What implemented programs are effective in fighting drug addiction in the USA?

Alcohol addiction topics

• Symptoms of having alcohol intoxication and receiving emergency first aid.
• How should companies work on alcohol advertising campaigns to reduce alcohol addiction among the population?
• Alcohol and women: the potential danger for women’s health caused by alcohol addiction.
• Social drinking as a path to the abyss of alcoholism.
• Psychological causes of drinking too much among youth and adults.
• The consequences of alcohol addiction. How does it affect family relations, career, and personal well-being?
• Development of the treatment of alcoholism today compared to 20th-century methods.
• The problem of drunk driving in top economically developed countries (USA, Canada, Australia, Great Britain, New Zealand, Ireland).
• Alcoholism is one of the most difficult diagnostic addictive disorders.
• Genetic risk and psychopathology of alcohol addiction.
• Beer alcoholism among high-school students.
• Depression: Is this a cause or consequence of alcoholism?
• Why do governments of some countries allow alcohol advertising to target teenagers? Is it negligence or propaganda?
• Principles of alcohol addiction treatment. Compare treatment methods for adolescents and adults.
• Screening tools for alcohol addiction and their effectiveness in diagnostics and treatment.
• Is alcoholism a disease or a weakness of will?
• Compare and contrast the situation of alcohol addiction today with one hundred years ago. Why do people drink more?
• Main psychological disorders that cause alcoholism. Compare causes for different age groups.
• Why does trying to find an answer to the habit of binge drinking among the youth vex the nation’s policymakers?
• Advancements in alcohol addiction treatment.

Gambling addiction research topics

• Gambling in the USA in 2020 compared to the situation in the latest decade.
• How can a person recognize gambling addiction? Identify a self-help guide.
• Is gambling legalization dangerous today? Why?
• Gambling machines in Las Vegas and their impact on gamblers’ mental health.
• The psychological perception of gambling before and after a gambler’s addiction.
• Methods of curing gambling addiction in New Zealand.
• Pros and cons of gambling in your city.
• Gambling addiction among juveniles.
• Internet gambling: How do cybersecurity agents work to reduce online scammers?
• Do games of chance reduce stress or cause it?
• Is gambling considered scamming or a type of standard entertainment?
• Why is gambling dangerous?
• Reasons gambling affects criminal worlds.

Relationships and addiction topics for paper

• Mental abuse in intimate relationships: common behavioral models.
• Communities that protect victims of domestic violence.
• How to prevent domestic violence: studying and self-developing methods.
• What causes relationship addiction in various aspects of life (family, work, friends)? Detail how to break through complicated relationships with less harm to physical and mental health.
• Danger of relationship addiction in times of preferable values of equality.
• What social services and organizations in the USA should regulate relationships in various social groups? Why is it important to get involved in solving relationship issues?
• Child abuse problem: rules every juvenile should follow to protect their rights.
• How can a person recognize an abusive partner dynamic and self-protect in case of danger?
• Sexual addiction in marriage: causes of a partner’s out-of-control behavior and ways of healing.
• Does family therapy really help in codependent relationships?

Help with addiction and drug abuse research papers

There are many forms of addictions today, including substance abuse. More and more young learners want to speak about it in their projects. Sometimes, when a student has had personal experience using drugs, it is great if they share a resolution on a topic on drug addiction. However, when you are not knowledgeable in substance abuse, but you want to make your paper valuable, read EssayShark blog articles for inspiring ideas.

Our paper writing service also works for students who need exclusive writing help on their tasks. Anyone can select a writer according to their needs. Stay confident your writing expert will meet your individual requirements. Order your paper now to ensure you get the help you need for your discipline!

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Vol. XXVIII, No. 4, Summer 2012

Eight Questions for Drug Policy Research

By Mark A. R. Kleiman , Jonathan P. Caulkins , Angela Hawken , Beau Kilmer

The current research agenda has only limited capacity to shrink the damage caused by drug abuse. Some promising alternative approaches could lead to improved results.

Drug abuse—of licit and illicit drugs alike—is a big medical and social problem and attracts a substantial amount of research attention. But the most attractive and most easily fundable research topics are not always those with the most to contribute to improved social outcomes. If the scientific effort paid more attention to the substantial opportunities for improved policies, its contribution to the public welfare might be greater.

The current research agenda around drug policy concentrates on the biology, psychology, and sociology of drugtaking and on the existing repertoire of drug-control interventions. But that repertoire has only limited capacity to shrink the damage that drug users do to themselves and others or the harms associated with drug dealing, drug enforcement, and drug-related incarceration; and the current research effort pays little attention to some innovative policies with substantial apparent promise of providing improved results.

At the same time, public opinion on marijuana has shifted so much that legalization has moved from the dreams of enthusiasts to the realm of practical possibility. Yet voters looking to science for guidance on the practicalities of legalization in various forms find little direct help.

All of this suggests the potential of a research effort less focused on current approaches and more attentive to alternatives.

The standard set of drug policies largely consists of:

• Prohibiting the production, sale, and possession of drugs
• Seizing illicit drugs
• Arresting and imprisoning dealers
• Preventing the diversion of pharmaceuticals to nonmedical use
• Persuading children not to begin drug use
• Offering treatment to people with drug-abuse disorders or imposing it on those whose behavior has brought them into conflict with the law
• Making alcohol and nicotine more expensive and harder to get with taxes and regulations
• Suspending the drivers’ licenses of those who drive while drunk and threatening them with jail if they keep doing it

With respect to alcohol and tobacco, there is great room or improvement even within the existing policy repertoire for example, by raising taxes), even before more-innovaive approaches are considered. With respect to the currently illicit drugs, it is much harder to see how increasing or slightly modifying standard-issue efforts will measurably shrink the size of the problems.

The costs—fiscal, personal, and social—of keeping half a million drug offenders (mostly dealers) behind bars are sufficiently great to raise the question of whether less comprehensive but more targeted drug enforcement might be the better course. Various forms of focused enforcement offer the promise of greatly reduced drug abuse, nondrug crime, and incarceration. These include testing and sanctions programs, interventions to shrink flagrant retail drug markets, collective deterrence directed at violent drug-dealing organizations, and drug-law enforcement aimed at deterring and incapacitating unusually violent individual dealers. Substantial increases in alcohol taxes might also greatly reduce abuse, as might developing more- effective treatments for stimulant abusers or improving the actual evidence base underlying the movement toward “evidence-based policies.”

These opportunities and changes ought to influence the research agenda. Surely what we try to find out should bear some relationship to the practical choices we face. Below we list eight research questions that we think would be worth answering. We have selected them primarily for policy relevance rather than for purely scientific interest.

1) How responsive is drug use to changes in price, risk, availability, and “normalcy”?

The fundamental policy question concerning any drug is whether to make it legal or prohibited. Although the choice s not merely binary, a fairly sharp line divides the spectrum of options. A substance is legal if a large segment of he population can purchase and possess it for unsupervised “recreational” use, and if there are no restrictions on who can produce and sell the drug beyond licensing and routine regulations.

Accepting that binary simplification, the choice becomes what kind of problem one prefers. Use and use-related problems will be more prevalent if the substance is legal. Prohibition will reduce, not eliminate, use and abuse, but with three principal costs: black markets that can be violent and corrupting, enforcement costs that exceed those of regulating a legal market, and increased damage per unit of consumption among those who use despite the ban. (Total use related harm could go up or down depending on the extent to which the reduction in use offsets the increase in harmfulness per unit of use.)

The costs of prohibition are easier to observe than are its benefits in the form of averted use and use-related problems. In that sense, prohibition is like investments in prevention, such as improving roads; it’s easier to identify the costs than to identify lives saved in accidents that did not happen.

We would like to know the long-run effect on consumption of changes in both price and the nonprice aspects of availability, including legal risks and stigma. There is now a literature estimating the price elasticity of demand for illegal drugs, but the estimates vary widely from one study to the next and many studies are based on surveys that may not give adequate weight to the heavy users who dominate consumption. Moreover, legalization would probably involve price declines that go far beyond the support of historical data.

Furthermore, as Mark Moore pointed out many years ago, the nonprice terms of availability, which he conceptualized as “search cost,” may match price effects in terms of their impact on consumption. Ye t those effects have never been quantitatively estimated for a change as profound as that from illegality to legality. The decision not to enforce laws against small cannabis transactions in the Netherlands did not cause an explosion in use; whether and how much it increased consumption and whether the establishment of retail shops mattered remain controversial questions.

This ignorance about the effect on consumption hamstrings attempts to be objective and analytical when discussing the question of whether to legalize any of the currently illicit drugs, and if so, under what conditions.

2) How responsive is the use of drug Y to changes in policy toward drug X?

Polydrug use is the norm, particularly among frequent and compulsive users. (Most users do not fall in that category, but the minority who do account for the bulk of consumption and harms.) Therefore, “scoring” policy interventions by considering only effects on the target substance is potentially misleading.

For example, driving up the price of one drug, say cocaine, might reduce its use, but victory celebrations should be tempered if the reduction stemmed from users switching to methamphetamine or heroin. On the other hand, school based drug-prevention efforts may generate greater benefits through effects on alcohol and tobacco abuse than via their effects on illegal drug use. Comparing them to other drug-control interventions, such as mandatory minimum sentences for drug dealers, in terms of ability to control illegal drugs alone is a mistake; those school-based prevention interventions are not (just) illicit-drug–control programs.

But policy is largely made one substance at a time. Drugs are added to schedules of prohibited substances based on their potential for abuse and for use as medicine. Reformers clamor for evidence-based policies that rank individual drugs’ harmfulness, as attempted recently by David Nutt, and ban only the most dangerous. Ye t it makes little practical sense to allow powder cocaine while banning crack, because anyone with baking soda and a microwave oven can convert powder to crack.

Considerations of substitution or complementarity ought to arise in making policy toward some of the so-called designer drugs. Mephedrone looks relatively good if most of its users would otherwise have been abusing methamphetamine; it looks terrible if in fact it acts as a stepping stone to methamphetamine use. But no one knows which is the case.

Marijuana legalization is in play in a way it has not been since the 1970s. Various authors have produced social-welfare analyses of marijuana legalization, toting up the benefits of reduced enforcement costs and the costs of greater need for treatment, accounting for potential tax revenues and the like.

Yet the marijuana-specific gains and losses from legalization would be swamped by the uncertainties concerning its effects on alcohol consumption. The damage from alcohol is a large multiple of the damage from cannabis; thus a 10% change, up or down, in alcohol abuse could outweigh any changes in marijuana-related outcomes.

There is conflicting evidence as to whether marijuana and alcohol are complements or substitutes; no one can rule out even larger increases or decreases in alcohol use as a result of marijuana legalization, especially in the long run.

Marijuana legalization might also influence heavy use of cocaine or cigarette smoking. But again, no one knows whether that effect would be to drive cocaine or cigarette use up or down, let alone by how much. If doubling marijuana use led to even a 1% increase or decrease in tobacco use, it could produce 4,000 more or 4,000 fewer tobacco related deaths per year, far more than the (quite small) number of deaths associated with marijuana.

This uncertainty makes it impossible to produce a solid benefit/cost analysis of marijuana legalization with existing data. That suggests both caution in drawing policy conclusions and aggressive efforts to learn more about cross-elasticities among drugs prone to abuse.

3) Can we stop large numbers of drug-involved criminal offenders from using illicit drugs?

Many county, state, and federal initiatives target drug use among criminal offenders. Ye t most do little to curtail drug use or crime. An exception is the drug courts process; some implementations of that idea have been shown to reduce drug use and other illegal behavior. Unfortunately, the resource intensity of drug courts limits their potential scope. The requirement that every participant must appear regularly before a judge for a status hearing means that a drug court judge can oversee fewer than 100 offenders at any time.

The HOPE approach to enforcing conditions of probation and parole, named after Hawaii’s Opportunity Probation with Enforcement, offers the potential for reducing use among drug-involved offenders at a larger scale. Like drug courts, HOPE provides swift and certain sanctions for probation violations, including drug use. HOPE starts with a formal warning that any violation of probation conditions will lead to an immediate but brief stay in jail. Probationers are then subject to regular random drug testing: six times a month at first, diminishing in frequency with sustained compliance. A positive drug test leads to an immediate arrest and a brief jail stay (usually a few days but in some jurisdictions as little as a few hours in a holding cell). Probationers appear before the judge only if they have violated a rule; in contrast, a drug court judge participates in every status review. Thus HOPE sites can supervise large numbers of offenders; a single judge in Hawaii now supervises more than 2,000 HOPE probationers.

In a large randomized controlled trial (RCT), Hawaii’s HOPE program greatly outperformed standard probation in reducing drug use, new crimes, and incarceration among a population of mostly methamphetamine-using felony probationers. A similar program in Tarrant County, Texas (encompassing Arlington and Fort Worth), appears to produce similar results, although this has not yet been verified by an RCT, as has a smaller-scale program (verified by an RCT) among parolees in Seattle. Reductions in drug use of 80%, in new arrests of 30 to 50%, and in days behind bars of 50% appear to be achievable at scale. The last result is the most striking; get-tough automatic-incarceration policies can reduce incarceration rather than increasing it, if the emphasis is on certainty and celerity rather than severity.

The Department of Justice is funding four additional RCTs; those results should help clarify how generalizable the HOPE outcomes are. But to date there has been no systematic experimentation to test how variations in program parameters lead to variations in results.

Hawaii’s HOPE program uses two days in jail as its typical first sanction. Penalties escalate for repeated violations, and the 15% or so of participants who violate a fourth time face a choice between residential treatment and prison. No one is mandated to undergo treatment except after repeated failures. The results suggest that this is an effective design, but is it optimal? Would some sanction short of jail for the first violation—a curfew, home confinement, or community service—work as well? Are escalating penalties necessary and if so, what is the optimal pattern of escalation? Is there a subset of offenders who ought to be mandated to treatment immediately rather than waiting for failures to accumulate? Should cannabis be included in the list of drugs tested for, as it is in Hawaii, or excluded? How about synthetically produced cannabinoids (sold as “Spice”) and cathinones (sold as “bath salts”), which require more complex and costly screening? Would adding other services to the mix improve outcomes? How can HOPE be integrated with existing treatment-diversion programs and drug courts? How can HOPE principles best be applied to parole, pretrial release, and juvenile offenders?

Answering these questions would require measuring the results of systematic variation in program conditions. There is no strong reason to think that the optimal program design will be the same in every jurisdiction or for every offender population. But it’s time to move beyond the question “Does HOPE work?” to consider how to optimize the design of testing-and-sanctions programs.

4) Can we stop alcohol-abusing criminal offenders from getting drunk?

Under current law, state governments effectively give every adult a license to purchase and consume alcohol in unlimited quantities. Judges in some jurisdictions can temporarily revoke that license for those with an alcohol-related offense by prohibiting drinking and going to bars as conditions of bail or probation. However, because alcohol passes through the body quickly, a typical random-but-infrequent testing regiment would miss most violations, making the revocation toothless.

In 2005, South Dakota embraced an innovative approach to this problem, called 24/7 Sobriety. As a condition of bail, repeat drunk drivers who were ordered to abstain from alcohol were now subject to twice-a-day breathalyzer tests, every day. Those testing positive or missing the test were immediately subject to a short stay in jail, typically a night or two. What started as a five-county pilot program expanded throughout the state, and judges began applying the program to offenders with all types of alcohol-related criminal behavior, not just drunk driving. Some jurisdictions even started using continuous alcohol-monitoring bracelets, which can remotely test for alcohol consumption every 30 minutes. Approximately 20,000 South Dakotans have participated in 24/7—an astounding figure for a state with a population of 825,000.

The anecdotal evidence about the program is spectacular; fewer than 1% of the 4.8 million breathalyzer tests ordered since 2005 were failed or missed. That is not because the offenders have no interest in drinking. About half of the participants miss or fail at least one test, but very few do so more than once or twice. 24/7 is now up and running in other states, and will soon be operating in the United Kingdom. As of yet there are no peer-reviewed studies of 24/7, but preliminary results from a rigorous quasi-experimental evaluation suggest that the program did reduce repeat drunk driving in South Dakota. Furthermore, as with HOPE, there remains a need to better understand for whom the program works, how long the effects last, the mechanism(s) by which it works, and whether it can be effective in a more urban environment.

Programs such as HOPE and 24/7 can complement traditional treatment by providing “behavioral triage.” Identifying which subset of substance abusers cannot stop drinking on their own, even under the threat of sanctions, allows the system to direct scarce treatment resources specifically to that minority.

Another way to take away someone’s drinking license would be to require that bars and package stores card every would be to require that bars and package stores card every buyer and to issue modified driver’s licenses with nondrinker markings on them to those convicted of alcohol-related crimes. This approach would probably face legal and political challenges, but that should not discourage serious analysis of the idea.

There is also strong evidence that increasing the excise tax on alcohol could reduce alcohol-related crime. Duke University economist Philip Cook estimates that doubling the federal tax, leading to a price increase of about 10%, would reduce violent crime and auto fatalities by about 3%, a striking saving in deaths for a relatively minor and easy-to-administer policy change. There is also evidence that formal treatment, both psychological and pharmacological, can yield improvements in outcomes for those who accept it.

There is also strong evidence that increasing the excise linked. Among people with drug problems who are also crimtax on alcohol could reduce alcohol-related crime. Duke Uni- inally active, criminal activity tends to rise and fall with drug versity economist Philip Cook estimates that doubling the consumption. Reductions in crime constitute a major benfederal tax, leading to a price increase of about 10%, would efit of providing drug treatment for the offender population, reduce violent crime and auto fatalities by about 3%, a strik- or of imposing HOPE-style community supervision. ing saving in deaths for a relatively minor and easy-to-ad- Reducing drug use among active offenders could also minister policy change. There is also evidence that formal shrink illicit drug markets, producing benefits everywhere, treatment, both psychological and pharmacological, can yield from inner-city neighborhoods wracked by flagrant drug improvements in outcomes for those who accept it.

5) How concentrated is hard-drug use among active criminals?

Literally hundreds of substances have been prohibited, but the big three expensive drugs (sometimes called the “hard” drugs)—cocaine, including crack; heroin; and methamphetamine— account for most of the societal harm. The serious criminal activity and other harms associated with those substances are further highly concentrated among a minority of their users. Many people commit a little bit of crime or use hard drugs a handful of times, but relatively few make a habit of either one. Despite their relatively small numbers, those frequent users and their suppliers account for a large share of all drug-related crime and violence.

The populations overlap; an astonishing proportion of those committing income-generating crimes, such as robbery, as opposed to arson, are drug-dependent and/or intoxicated at the time of their offense, and a large proportion of frequent users of expensive drugs commit income-generating crime. Moreover, the two sets of behaviors are causally linked. Among people with drug problems who are also criminally active, criminal activity tends to rise and fall with drug consumption. Reductions in crime constitute a major benefit of providing drug treatment for the offender population, or of imposing HOPE-style community supervision.

Reducing drug use among active offenders could also shrink illicit drug markets, producing benefits everywhere, from inner-city neighborhoods wracked by flagrant drug dealing to source and transit countries such as Colombia and Mexico.

A back-of-the envelope calculation suggests the potential size of these effects. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health estimates users in the household population. The Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring Program measures the rate of active substance use among active offenders (by self-report and urinalysis). Two decades ago, an author of this article (Kleiman) and Chris Putala, then on the Senate Judiciary Committee staff, used the predecessors of those surveys to estimate that about three-quarters of all heavy (morethan-weekly) cocaine users had been arrested for a nondrug felony in the previous year.

Applying the Pareto Law’s rule of thumb that 80% of the volume of any activity is likely to be accounted for by about 20% of those who engage in it—true, for example, about the distribution of alcohol consumption—suggests that something like three-fifths of all the cocaine is used by people who get arrested in the course of a typical year and who are therefore likely to be on probation, parole, or pretrial release if not behind bars.

Combining that calculation with the result from HOPE that frequent testing with swift and certain sanctions can shrink (in the Hawaii case) methamphetamine use among heavily drug-involved felony probationers by 80%, suggests that total hard-drug volume might be reduced by something like 50% if HOPE-style supervision were applied to all heavy users of hard drugs under criminal-justice supervision. No known drug-enforcement program has any comparable capability to shrink illicit-market volumes.

By the same token, HOPE seems to reduce criminal activity, as measured by felony arrests, by 30 to 50%. If frequent offenders commit 80% of income-generating crime, and half of those frequent offenders also have serious harddrug problems, such a reduction in offending within that group could reduce total income-generating crime by approximately 15 to 20%, while also decreasing the number of jail and prison inmates.

The Kleiman and Putala estimate was necessarily crude because it was based on studies that weren’t designed to measure the concentration of hard-drug use among offenders. Unfortunately, no one in the interim has attempted to refine that estimate with more precise methods (for example, stochastic-process modeling) or more recent data.

6) What is the evidence for evidence-based practices?

Many agencies now recommend (and some states and federal grant programs mandate) adoption of prevention and treatment programs that are evidence-based. But the move toward evidence-based practices has one serious limitation: the quality of the evidence base. It is important to ask what qualifies as evidence and who gets to produce it. Many programs are expanded and replicated on the basis of weak evidence. Study design matters. A review by George Mason University Criminologist David Weisburd and colleagues showed that the effect size of offender programs is negatively related to study quality: The more rigorous the study is, the smaller its reported effects.

Who does the evaluation can also make a difference. Texas A&M Epidemiologist Dennis Gorman found that evaluations authored by program developers report much larger effect sizes than those authored by independent researchers. Yet Benjamin Wright and colleagues reported that more than half of the substance-abuse programs targeting criminal-justice programs that were designated as evidence-based on the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA’s) National Registry of Evidence Based Programs and Practices (NREPP) include the program developer as evaluator. Consequently, we may be spending large sums of money on ineffective programs. Many jurisdictions, secure in their illusory evidence base, could become complacent about searching for alternative programs that really do work.

We need to get better at identifying effective strategies and helping practitioners sort through the evidence. Requiring that publicly funded programs be evaluated and show improved outcomes using strong research designs—experimental designs where feasible, well-designed historicalcontrol strategies where experiments can’t be done, and “intent-to-treat” analyses rather than cherry-picking success by studying program completers only—would cut the number of programs designated as promising or evidence-based by more than 75%. Not only would this relieve taxpayers of the burden of supporting ineffective programs, it would also help researchers identify more promising directions for future intervention research.

The potential for selection biases when studying druginvolved people is substantial and thus makes experimental designs much more valuable. Small is key. It avoids expense, and equally important, it avoids champions with bruised egos. It is difficult to scale back a program once an agency becomes invested in the project. Small pilot evaluations that do show positive outcomes can then be replicated and expanded if the replications show similarly positive results.

7) What treats stimulant abuse?

Science can alleviate social problems not only by guiding policy but also by inventing better tools. The holy grail of such innovations would be a technology that addresses stimulant dependence.

The ubiquitous “treatment works” mantra masks a sharp disparity in technologies available for treating opiates (heroin and oxycodone) as opposed to stimulants (notably cocaine, crack, and meth). A variety of so-called opiate-substitute therapies (OSTs) exist that essentially substitute supervised use of legal, pure, and cheap opiates for unsupervised use of street opiates. Methadone is the first and best-known OST, but there are others. A number of countries even use clinically supplied heroin to substitute for street heroin.

OST stabilizes dependent individuals’ chaotic lives, with positive effects on a wide range of life outcomes, such as increased employment and reduced criminality and rates of overdose. Sometimes stabilization is a first step toward abstinence, but for better and for worse the dominant thinking since the 1980s has been to view substitution therapy as an open-ended therapy, akin to insulin for diabetics. Either way, OST consistently fares very well in evaluations that quantify social benefits produced relative to program costs.

There is no comparable technology for treating stimulant dependence. This is not for lack of trying. The National Institute on Drug Abuse has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the quest for pharmacotherapies for stimulants. Decades of work have produced many promising advances in basic science, but with comparatively little effect on clinical practice. The gap between opiate and stimulant treatment technologies matters more in the United States and the rest of the Western Hemisphere, where stimulants have a large market, than in the rest of the world, where opiates remain predominant.

There are two reactions to this zero-for-very-many batting average. One is to redouble efforts; after all, Edison tried a lot of filament materials before hitting on carbonized bamboo. The other is to give up on the quest for a chemical that can offset, undo, or modulate stimulants’ effects in the brain and pursue other approaches. For example, immunotherapies are a fundamentally different technology inasmuch as the active introduced agent does not cross the blood-brain barrier. Rather, the antibodies act almost more like interdiction agents, but interdicting the drug molecules between ingestion and their crossing the blood-brain barrier rather than interdicting at the nation’s border.

There is evidence from clinical trials showing that some cognitive-behavioral therapies can reduce stimulant consumption for some individuals. Contingency management also takes a behavioral rather than a chemical approach, essentially incentivizing dependent users to remain abstinent. The stunning finding is that, properly deployed, very small incentives (for example, vouchers for everyday items) can induce much greater behavioral change than can conventional treatment methods alone.

The ability of contingency management to reduce consumption, and the finding that even the heaviest users respond to price increases by consuming less, profoundly challenge conventional thinking about the meaning of addiction. They seem superficially at odds with the clear evidence that addiction is a brain disease with a physiological basis. Brainimaging studies let us see literally how chronic use changes the brain in ways that are not reversed by mere withdrawal of the drugs. So just as light simultaneously displays characteristics of a particle and a wave, so too addiction simultaneously has characteristics of a physiological disease and a behavior over which the person has (at least limited) control.

8) What reduces drug-market violence?

Drug dealers can be very violent. Some use violence to settle disputes about territory or transactions; others use violence to climb the organizational ladder or intimidate witnesses or enforcement officials. Because many dealers have guns or have easy access to them, they also sometimes use these weapons to address conflicts that have nothing to do with drugs. Because the market tends to replace drug dealers who are incarcerated, there is little reason to think that routine drug-law enforcement can reduce violence; the opposite might even be true if greater enforcement pressure makes violence more advantageous to those most willing to use it.

That raises the question of whether drug-law enforcement can be designed specifically to reduce violence. One set of strategies toward this end is known as focused deterrence or pulling-levers policing. These approaches involve lawenforcement officials directly communicating a credible threat to violent individuals or groups, with the goal of reducing the violence level, even if the level of drug dealing or gang activity remains the same. Such interventions aim to tip situations from high-violence to low-violence equilibria by changing the actual and perceived probability of punishment; for example, by making violent drug dealing riskier, in enforcement terms, than less violent drug dealing.

The seminal effort was the Boston gun project Ceasefire, which focused on reducing juvenile homicides in the mid-1990s. Recognizing that many of the homicides stemmed from clashes between juvenile gangs, the strategy focused on telling members of each gang that if anyone in the gang shot someone (usually a member of a rival gang) police and prosecutors would pull every lever legally available against the entire gang, regardless of which individual had pulled the trigger. Instead of receiving praise from colleagues for increasing the group’s prestige, the potential shooter now had to deal with the fact that killing put the entire group at risk. Thus the social power of the gang was enlisted on the side of violence reduction. The results were dramatic: Youth gun homicides in Boston fell from two a month before the intervention to zero while the intervention lasted. Variants of Ceasefire have been implemented across the country, some with impressive results.

An alternative to the Ceasefire group-focused strategy is a focus on specific drug markets where flagrant dealing leads to violence and disorder. Police and prosecutors in High Point, North Carolina, adopted a focused-deterrence approach, which involved strong collaborations with community members. Their model, referred to as the Drug Market Intervention, involved identifying all of the dealers in the targeted market, making undercover buys from them (often on film), arresting the most violent dealers, and not arresting the others. Instead, the latter were invited to a community meeting where they were told that, although cases were made against them, they were going to get another chance as long as they stopped dealing. The flagrant drug market in that neighborhood, as David Kennedy reports, vanished literally overnight and has not reappeared for the subsequent seven years. The program has been replicated in dozens of jurisdictions, and there is a growing evidence base showing that it can reduce crime.

A third approach recognizes the heterogeneity in violence among individual drug dealers. By focusing enforcement on those identified as the most violent, police can create both Darwinian and incentive pressures to reduce the overall violence level. This technique has yet to be systematically evaluated. This seems like an attractive research opportunity if a jurisdiction wants to try out such an approach.

An especially challenging problem is dealing-related violence in Mexico, now claiming more than 1,000 lives per month. It is worth considering whether a Ceasefire-style strategy might start a tipping process toward a less violent market. Such a strategy could exploit two features of the current situation: The Mexican groups make most of their money selling drugs for distribution in the United States, and the United States has much greater drug enforcement capacity than does Mexico. If the Mexican government were to select one of the major organizations and target it for destruction after a transparent process based on relative violence levels, U.S. drug-law enforcement might be able to put the target group out of business by focusing attention on the U.S. distributors that buy their drugs from the target Mexican organization, thereby pressuring them to find an alternative source. If that happened, the target organization would find itself without a market for its product.

If one organization could be destroyed in this fashion, the remaining groups might respond to an announcement that a second selection process was underway by competitively reducing their violence levels, each hoping that one of its rivals would be chosen as the second target. The result might be—with the emphasis on might—a dramatic reduction in bloodshed.

Whatever the technical details of violence-minimizing drug-law enforcement, its conceptual basis is the understanding that in established markets enforcement pressure can have a greater effect on how drugs are sold than on how much is sold. So violence reduction is potentially more feasible than is greatly reducing drug dealing generally.

Drug policy involves contested questions of value as well as of fact; that limits the proper role of science in policymaking. And many of the factual questions are too hard to be solved with the current state of the art: The mechanisms of price and quantity determination in illicit markets, for example, have remained largely impervious to investigation. Conversely, research on drug abuse can provide insight into a variety of scientifically interesting questions about the nature of human motivation and self-regulation, complicated by imperfect information, intoxication, and impairment, and engaging group dynamics and tipping phenomena; not every study needs to be justified in terms of its potential contribution to making better policy. However, good theory is often developed in response to practical challenges, and policymakers need the guidance of scientists. Broadening the current research agenda away from biomedical studies and evaluations of the existing policy repertoire could produce both more interesting science and more successful policies.

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World Drug Day report highlights spike in drug use, increased trafficking

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The UN agency tackling crime and drug abuse (UNODC) released its annual World Drug Report on Wednesday warning that there are now nearly 300 million users globally, alongside an increase in trafficking.

The  International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, or World Drug Day, is commemorated every year on June 26 and aims to increase action in achieving a drug-free world.

This year’s campaign recognises that “ effective drug policies must be rooted in science, research, full respect for human rights , compassion, and a deep understanding of the social, economic, and health implications of drug use”.

Ghada Waly, Executive Director of UNODC , said that providing evidence-based treatment and support to all those affected by drug use is needed, “while targeting the illicit drug market and investing much more in prevention”.

New threat from nitazenes

Drug production, trafficking, and use continue to exacerbate instability and inequality, while causing untold harm to people’s health, safety and well-being. — Ghada Waly

In the decade to 2022, the number of people using illicit drugs increased to 292 million, the UNODC report says.

It noted that most users worldwide consume cannabis – 228 million people - while 60 million people worldwide consume opioids, 30 million people use amphetamines, 23 million use cocaine and 20 million take ecstasy.

Further, UNODC found that there was an increase in overdose deaths following the emergence of nitazenes – a group of synthetic opioids potentially more dangerous than fentanyl – in several high-income countries.

Trafficking in the Triangle

The drug report noted that traffickers in the Golden Triangle, a region in Southeast Asia, have found ways to integrate themselves into other illegal markets, such as wildlife trafficking, financial fraud, and illegal resource extraction.

“Displaced, poor and migrant communities” bear the brunt of this criminal activity and on occasion are forced to engage in opium farming or illegal resource extraction for their survival; this can lead to civilians becoming drug users or fall into debt at the mercy of crime groups.

Environmental fallout

These illegal crimes contribute to environmental degradation via deforestation, toxic waste dumping and chemical contamination.

“Drug production, trafficking, and use continue to exacerbate instability and inequality, while causing untold harm to people’s health, safety and well-being,” UNODC’s Ms. Waly said.

Cocaine surge and cannabis legalisation

In 2022, cocaine production hit a record high with 2,757 tons produced – a 20 per cent increase from 2021.

The increase in supply and demand of the product was accompanied by a surge of violence in nations along the supply chain, especially in Ecuador and Caribbean countries. There was also a spike in health problems within some destination countries in Western and Central Europe.

Similarly, harmful usage of cannabis surged as the product was legalized across Canada, Uruguay, and 27 jurisdictions in the United States, much of which was laced with high-THC (delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol) content - which is believed to be the main ingredient behind the psychoactive effect of the drug.

This led to an increase in the rate of attempted suicides among regular cannabis users in Canada and the US.

The hope for World Drug Day

The UNODC report highlights that the “ right to health is an internationally recognized human right that belongs to all human beings , regardless of a person’s drug use status or whether a person is imprisoned, detained or incarcerated”.

UNODC’s calls for governments, organizations and communities to collaborate on establishing evidence-based plans that will fight against drug trafficking and organized crime.

The agency also hopes communities will assist in “fostering resilience against drug use and promoting community-led solutions".

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NHLBI’s MACS/WIHS study targets chronic health conditions in people living with HIV

Longest running study of HIV survivors is marking its 40th anniversary this year.

In the 1980s, infection with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, was often viewed as a death sentence. With no treatments available and little understanding of the virus or the disease, hundreds of thousands of people in the United States ultimately lost their lives and millions more died worldwide.

Much has changed in the past four decades. Thanks to the availability of powerful antiretroviral drugs, new infections have decreased significantly, the virus is held at low levels in the body, and the HIV death rate has plummeted. People living with HIV are now more likely to die of a chronic illness, such as cardiovascular disease, than from AIDS. Meanwhile, researchers continue to make inroads in finding an effective vaccine or even a cure.

Now, this year, another milestone: the nation’s largest and longest running study of HIV survivors is marking its 40th anniversary.

The Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS) launched in 1984 to help shed light on how AIDS was affecting gay and bisexual men living with or at risk for HIV. Over the years it enrolled some 7,300 men and eventually merged with the Women’s Interagency HIV Study (WIHS). That study has focused on the health impact of HIV on nearly 5,000 women living with or at risk for the virus.

Since then, the combined research effort – the so-called MACS/WIHS Combined Cohort Study – has been pursuing an ambitious goal: to understand and reduce the impact of chronic health conditions, including heart, lung, blood, and sleep disorders, that affect people living with HIV. That’s an estimated 1.1 million people ages 13 and older in the United States and the nearly 37 million people worldwide.

The study – coordinated by the NHLBI and conducted in collaboration with the NIH Office of AIDS Research and several co-funding institutes – not only has produced a host of findings; it also has provided a way to take stock of what its research has meant for real people.

“It’s amazing today to see that people with HIV are surviving into old age,” said Beth Pathak, Ph.D., NHLBI’s program director of the MACS/WIHS study and an epidemiologist. “On the other hand, HIV/AIDS is still a big public health problem around the world. We still have a lot more to learn.”

Pathak says that the program will honor the legacy of the participants with a specially designed panel on the National AIDS Memorial quilt . That panel will be unveiled on December 5 during a special ceremony in Washington, D.C.

David C. Goff, M.D., Ph.D., director of the NHLBI’s Division of Cardiovascular Sciences, said the MACS/WIHS study is often called the “jewel in the crown” of NIH HIV/AIDS research for good reason. To date, MACS/WIHS investigators have published over 2,000 articles on HIV-related topics. Those studies show that people living with HIV tend to carry a higher disease burden. Nearly half of HIV survivors over 50 develop one or more chronic conditions not directly associated with HIV itself – cardiovascular disease, lung diseases such as pulmonary hypertension and COPD, anemias and other blood-related disorders, sleep disorders, cognitive dysfunction, osteoporosis, and certain cancers. While common in older people generally, these conditions tend to show up at higher rates in younger people with HIV.

Some of the more important findings to emerge from the MACS/WIHS research program have direct relevance to NHLBI’s research focus areas:

• Men and women living with HIV have a higher burden of heart disease than those without HIV.
• Men and women living with HIV are more likely to have abnormal lung function than those without HIV.
• Women living with HIV have a higher comorbidity burden (health problems) than men with HIV.
• Untreated HIV lowers levels of ‘good’ cholesterol (high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol).
• High-risk coronary artery plaque is more common in men with HIV than their HIV-negative counterparts.
• At the DNA level, men living with HIV appear to age faster than men without .
• Men with HIV are more likely to have sleep-disordered breathing.
• People living with HIV have lower antibodies and greater inflammation from the COVID-19 vaccines.
• Smoking is strongly linked to atherosclerosis in men with HIV.

NHLBI’s Goff said findings like these are critical to research that could lead to better treatments for those with the disease. It’s why it is so important, he said, to “keep the study going.”

After all, he noted, “it’s one of the world’s most important sources of rigorous scientific knowledge about the evolving impact of HIV infection and its comorbidities on human health.”

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Safety of generic Viagra, other drugs called into doubt after false data found by FDA

by Anna Edney, Bloomberg News

Generic versions of erectile dysfunction drugs Viagra and Cialis, among other medications, were allowed on the U.S. market using potentially problematic data that call into question their safety and efficacy, a Bloomberg analysis found.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration alerted brand-name and generic companies June 18 about a research company in India that had falsified the data used in key studies to gain approval of its medications. Data from the researcher, Synapse Labs Pvt. Ltd., may have been used in hundreds of drugs, which remain available for sale on pharmacy shelves and in Americans' medicine cabinets.

European regulators last year flagged Synapse to the FDA, which later told U.S. companies that relied on Synapse for key studies to gain approval of their medications that they would have to redo the work somewhere else.

The FDA said companies that used Synapse will get a year to submit new data on the drugs. Without that information, it's difficult to know the true outcomes of the studies and whether they're safe. And insurers may have reason to retroactively decide not to cover the medications.

"I think it raises a lot of questions about the implications for the drugs on the market," said Massoud Motamed, who was an FDA inspector until January 2023 and has a doctorate in biochemistry.

Motamed said his biggest concern is that the drugs Synapse was involved with may have too much or too little active ingredient. Too much can lead to dangerous toxicity issues. Drugs that don't have enough active ingredient run the risk of not working.

'Confidential information'

The FDA isn't telling patients, doctors or pharmacists which drugs among thousands might be impacted because the agency said whether a drugmaker used a particular research company for hire is " confidential information ," according to the FDA alert.

"This is kind of shocking to me," Michael Santoro, a professor at Santa Clara University who specializes in business ethics and co-wrote a book called "Ethics and the Pharmaceutical Industry," said about the FDA keeping the drugs secret. "There's no question in my mind that this data needs to be in front of the public."

Cherie Duvall-Jones, a spokesperson for the agency, said "the FDA remains vigilant and will act should we identify safety issues."

She said so far the FDA hadn't noticed any signs in its side effect data that the drugs had serious safety concerns. The FDA has not suspended sales of the drugs as European Union regulators recommended to member states and declined to say how many drugs were approved using research done by Synapse.

U.S. regulators have done little public outreach about this issue. There's no way for patients to know which brand-name drugs used Synapse research. But for generics, the FDA guided consumers to an obscure database with codes that indicate whether a generic is deemed to be equivalent to the brand-name drug . If a drug's code recently changed from equivalent to not equivalent, this could indicate that Synapse was involved in its approval in the US.

"It's like a riddle," said Erin Fox, director of the University of Utah's drug information service that tracks drug shortages.

In addition to safety concerns, Fox said insurers may not cover non-therapeutically equivalent drugs and could even claw back payments.

Generics database

Such switches rarely occur, and usually the FDA notifies the public. For example, last year, the FDA said it no longer considered a generic organ transplant drug from Accord Healthcare Inc. the same as the brand-name version it copied. Accord's tacrolimus released too much of the medicine at once in the body, which could cause kidney failure or seizures, the agency determined after testing the drug following years of concern from doctors.

Bloomberg's analysis identified a number of generic drugs that are no longer deemed the same as the brand though they were earlier this year. Among them are Viagra and Cialis generics made by India's Umedica Laboratories Pvt.

Umedica is a contract manufacturer that sells these drugs to other drugmakers to package and market, including Nivagen Pharmaceuticals Inc. in Sacramento, California, and pharmacies that stock various health-care facilities such as doctors offices and hospitals. Bloomberg used databases from the FDA and the National Institutes of Health to identify the drugs and their sellers.

Other drugs on the list include generics of the cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor from India's Lupin Ltd and risendronate sodium from Aurobindo Pharma Ltd. Lupin sold 25 million generic Lipitor prescriptions in the U.S. between 2020 and most of 2023, according to Symphony Health prescription data compiled by Bloomberg. Umedica's atorvastatin and carbamazepine, an epilepsy drug, also made the list.

Umedica, Nivagen, Lupin and Aurobindo didn't respond to requests for comment.

The FDA often protects corporate information, including what factory a drug is made in, for fear of running afoul of trade secret laws. In 2011, the FDA said it found 1,900 instances during an inspection of a Cetero Research facility where lab technicians that supposedly conducted certain tests weren't in the office at that time. The agency didn't share what drugs had been approved using Cetero data at the time.

2024 Bloomberg L.P. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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Understanding Drug Use and Addiction DrugFacts

Many people don't understand why or how other people become addicted to drugs. They may mistakenly think that those who use drugs lack moral principles or willpower and that they could stop their drug use simply by choosing to. In reality, drug addiction is a complex disease, and quitting usually takes more than good intentions or a strong will. Drugs change the brain in ways that make quitting hard, even for those who want to. Fortunately, researchers know more than ever about how drugs affect the brain and have found treatments that can help people recover from drug addiction and lead productive lives.

What Is drug addiction?

Addiction is a chronic disease characterized by drug seeking and use that is compulsive, or difficult to control, despite harmful consequences. The initial decision to take drugs is voluntary for most people, but repeated drug use can lead to brain changes that challenge an addicted person’s self-control and interfere with their ability to resist intense urges to take drugs. These brain changes can be persistent, which is why drug addiction is considered a "relapsing" disease—people in recovery from drug use disorders are at increased risk for returning to drug use even after years of not taking the drug.

It's common for a person to relapse, but relapse doesn't mean that treatment doesn’t work. As with other chronic health conditions, treatment should be ongoing and should be adjusted based on how the patient responds. Treatment plans need to be reviewed often and modified to fit the patient’s changing needs.

Video: Why are Drugs So Hard to Quit?

What happens to the brain when a person takes drugs?

Most drugs affect the brain's "reward circuit," causing euphoria as well as flooding it with the chemical messenger dopamine. A properly functioning reward system motivates a person to repeat behaviors needed to thrive, such as eating and spending time with loved ones. Surges of dopamine in the reward circuit cause the reinforcement of pleasurable but unhealthy behaviors like taking drugs, leading people to repeat the behavior again and again.

As a person continues to use drugs, the brain adapts by reducing the ability of cells in the reward circuit to respond to it. This reduces the high that the person feels compared to the high they felt when first taking the drug—an effect known as tolerance. They might take more of the drug to try and achieve the same high. These brain adaptations often lead to the person becoming less and less able to derive pleasure from other things they once enjoyed, like food, sex, or social activities.

Long-term use also causes changes in other brain chemical systems and circuits as well, affecting functions that include:

• decision-making

Despite being aware of these harmful outcomes, many people who use drugs continue to take them, which is the nature of addiction.

Why do some people become addicted to drugs while others don't?

No one factor can predict if a person will become addicted to drugs. A combination of factors influences risk for addiction. The more risk factors a person has, the greater the chance that taking drugs can lead to addiction. For example:

• Biology . The genes that people are born with account for about half of a person's risk for addiction. Gender, ethnicity, and the presence of other mental disorders may also influence risk for drug use and addiction.
• Environment . A person’s environment includes many different influences, from family and friends to economic status and general quality of life. Factors such as peer pressure, physical and sexual abuse, early exposure to drugs, stress, and parental guidance can greatly affect a person’s likelihood of drug use and addiction.
• Development . Genetic and environmental factors interact with critical developmental stages in a person’s life to affect addiction risk. Although taking drugs at any age can lead to addiction, the earlier that drug use begins, the more likely it will progress to addiction. This is particularly problematic for teens. Because areas in their brains that control decision-making, judgment, and self-control are still developing, teens may be especially prone to risky behaviors, including trying drugs.

Can drug addiction be cured or prevented?

As with most other chronic diseases, such as diabetes, asthma, or heart disease, treatment for drug addiction generally isn’t a cure. However, addiction is treatable and can be successfully managed. People who are recovering from an addiction will be at risk for relapse for years and possibly for their whole lives. Research shows that combining addiction treatment medicines with behavioral therapy ensures the best chance of success for most patients. Treatment approaches tailored to each patient’s drug use patterns and any co-occurring medical, mental, and social problems can lead to continued recovery.

More good news is that drug use and addiction are preventable. Results from NIDA-funded research have shown that prevention programs involving families, schools, communities, and the media are effective for preventing or reducing drug use and addiction. Although personal events and cultural factors affect drug use trends, when young people view drug use as harmful, they tend to decrease their drug taking. Therefore, education and outreach are key in helping people understand the possible risks of drug use. Teachers, parents, and health care providers have crucial roles in educating young people and preventing drug use and addiction.

Points to Remember

• Drug addiction is a chronic disease characterized by drug seeking and use that is compulsive, or difficult to control, despite harmful consequences.
• Brain changes that occur over time with drug use challenge an addicted person’s self-control and interfere with their ability to resist intense urges to take drugs. This is why drug addiction is also a relapsing disease.
• Relapse is the return to drug use after an attempt to stop. Relapse indicates the need for more or different treatment.
• Most drugs affect the brain's reward circuit by flooding it with the chemical messenger dopamine. Surges of dopamine in the reward circuit cause the reinforcement of pleasurable but unhealthy activities, leading people to repeat the behavior again and again.
• Over time, the brain adjusts to the excess dopamine, which reduces the high that the person feels compared to the high they felt when first taking the drug—an effect known as tolerance. They might take more of the drug, trying to achieve the same dopamine high.
• No single factor can predict whether a person will become addicted to drugs. A combination of genetic, environmental, and developmental factors influences risk for addiction. The more risk factors a person has, the greater the chance that taking drugs can lead to addiction.
• Drug addiction is treatable and can be successfully managed.
• More good news is that drug use and addiction are preventable. Teachers, parents, and health care providers have crucial roles in educating young people and preventing drug use and addiction.

For information about understanding drug use and addiction, visit:

• www.nida.nih.gov/publications/drugs-brains-behavior-science-addiction/drug-abuse-addiction

For more information about the costs of drug abuse to the United States, visit:

• www.nida.nih.gov/related-topics/trends-statistics#costs

For more information about prevention, visit:

• www.nida.nih.gov/related-topics/prevention

For more information about treatment, visit:

• www.nida.nih.gov/related-topics/treatment

To find a publicly funded treatment center in your state, call 1-800-662-HELP or visit:

• https://findtreatment.samhsa.gov/

This publication is available for your use and may be reproduced in its entirety without permission from NIDA. Citation of the source is appreciated, using the following language: Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse; National Institutes of Health; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.