Addiction news covering opioids, alcohol, treatment access, harm reduction, overdose trends, and recovery policy.
Actress Hayden Panettiere died at age 36 in Greenville, South Carolina, following an apparent overdose. Her boyfriend's brother administered Narcan after finding her unconscious. The DEA has joined local authorities in investigating the cause of death, while family members have publicly blamed the boyfriend.
Researchers in Nottingham and Plymouth are launching a four-year, £2.7 million clinical trial to investigate whether the weight-loss drug semaglutide can treat alcohol dependency in patients with obesity. The study will recruit approximately 270 NHS patients with severe liver scarring to receive weekly injections or a placebo over 36 weeks.
A new CDC report reveals a rising prevalence of cannabis hyperemesis syndrome among U.S. teens and young adults, challenging prior assumptions that the condition mainly impacts long-term users. Emergency department visits for CHS have jumped nearly 29% since 2020 in Virginia, with significant spikes also reported in Massachusetts, Northern California, and parts of North Carolina.
Itay Greenberg argues that day trading addiction stems from psychological vulnerabilities and the allure of financial independence. He contends that structured interventions, including medication and new hobbies, were essential for overcoming an eight-year habit that resulted in significant debt.
Miss Manners advises a reader to politely decline future gambling-related gifts by expressing appreciation while vaguely stating they are not a gambler, and suggests maintaining composure when uninvited guests arrive at casual gatherings.
The Drug Enforcement Administration is observing the fifth anniversary of National Fentanyl Awareness and Prevention Day on Friday. This observance highlights the ongoing crisis, with synthetic drugs causing over 1,000 deaths in the St. Louis field division last year alone.
This commentary argues that lessons from the 1970s are critical for addressing the contemporary US opioid crisis. It traces the epidemic's evolution from Purdue Pharma's aggressive marketing of OxyContin to the current surge in polydrug overdoses, suggesting historical patterns inform present-day public health challenges.