Why do some people get addicted while others remain immune to the lure of drugs?
Addiction
Demi’s Drug: What Is Nitrous Oxide?
A former nitrous addict and expert on addiction explains why laughing gas is no joke.
The Choking Game: 1 in 7 College Students Has Tried It, Texas Study Finds
The potentially lethal Choking Game, which involves cutting off the blood supply to the brain, appears to be popular with some college students who think it’s not as dangerous as using illicit drugs.
Study: Stress Shrinks the Brain and Lowers Our Ability to Cope with Adversity
Feeling stressed by family and work woes? It could be taking a toll on both your brain and your body.
America’s Drunkest Cities
Which city has the booziest population? (And no, the Jersey shore isn’t a city.)
Super-Duper Hydrocodone? An Open Letter to Big Pharma
A powerful and addictive new painkiller is coming down the pike. Can this be anything but an unmitigated disaster?
Clean Needles Saved My Life. Now Congress Wants to Ban Funding for Needle Exchange
Would you rather save lives and save money — or make a political point? Sadly, when the question involves the issue of clean needle programs, the choice to “send a message” always seems to win.
Why the Myth of the Meth-Damaged Brain May Hinder Recovery
Methamphetamine is widely believed to cause brain damage and cognitive impairment in users. But this claim may be wildly overblown, according to a new review of the research.
A Brief History of OD’ing in America
The conviction of Dr. Conrad Murray in Michael Jackson’s death highlighted a worrying drug trend in the U.S. Less than a week before a jury found Murray guilty of involuntary manslaughter for improperly using an anesthetic to …
Michael Jackson Verdict: Is a Doctor’s Conviction an Indictment of Modern Medicine?
Dr. Conrad Murray was found guilty on Monday of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Michael Jackson. With overdose deaths tripling in the past decade, should Murray’s conviction be a lesson to other doctors?
Study: Whites More Likely to Abuse Drugs Than Blacks
Black youth are arrested for drug crimes at a rate ten times higher than that of whites. But new research shows that young African Americans are actually less likely to use drugs and less likely to develop substance use …
Are Doctors Really to Blame for the Overdose Epidemic?
Forty people die each day from what Dr. Thomas Frieden, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), calls an “epidemic” of prescription drug overdose. Frieden largely attributes the rise in overdose …
The Tolerance Effect: How Drinking May Have Really Killed Amy Winehouse
Amy Winehouse died of alcohol poisoning, according to a British coroner’s inquest released Wednesday. The singer had a blood level of alcohol five times the legal limit for driving at the time of her “death by misadventure,” the …
