A study published in Addiction looks at the use of GLP-1 receptor agonists (Ozempic) for opioid and alcohol addiction.    Prof Matt … read more

A review published in PLOS Mental Health looks at internet use and behaviour and development of teens.    Professor David … read more

A study, published in the journal Tobacco Control, reports on the gateway effects of e-cigarette use.   Prof John Britton, … read more

It is claimed that the opioid crisis in the US has caused over 70,000 drug overdose deaths and many more … read more

Research, published in Nature Communications, reports the use of ketamine to reduce problem drinking by pharmacologically rewriting drinking memories.   … read more

Public Health England (PHE) have published a report into dependence on prescription medicines.    A spokesperson for the Medicines and Healthcare … read more

An RCT, published in JAMA Psychiatry, reports that Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) was able to help some sufferers of internet addiction return … read more

Concerns about social media and internet use are igniting debate across society. It is never far from the news and there is growing interest in what we’re looking at. read more

Publishing in The New England Journal of Medicine a group of researchers have examined the health effects of e-cigarettes. read more

A study published in the BMJ and a review published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews have reported that e-cig use was associated with successful attempts at quitting smoking. read more

The effect of e-cigarettes on the risk of taking up smoking is the subject of a paper published in the journal Pediatrics which reports that youths who never smoked but use e-cigarettes may have an increased risk of subsequently taking up smoking when they are legally allowed to purchase tobacco products. read more

A group of researchers publishing in the journal Addiction have performed a systematic review of evidence supporting the efficacy of the drug nalmefene, approved in the UK for the treatment of alcohol dependence. They report problems in the methodology of clinical trials upon which this approval was based, and suggest that their conclusions may create dilemmas for clinicians prescribing the drug. read more

E-cigarettes and their contribution to smoking prevalence is the subject of a paper published in the journal Addiction. read more

Publishing in JAMA Psychiatry a group of scientists have examined the mental health effects of cannabis use and report that within the population in which they looked cannabis use was associated with increased risk for substance abuse disorders in the following years, but was not associated with any increased risk of depression anxiety. read more

Passive smoking has long been known to pose a health risk to non-smokers, and efforts to reduce levels of second-hand smoke have seen bans on indoor smoking in public and work places introduced in a number of countries, states, and regions. Publishing in the Cochrane Library a group of scientists have reported that national smoking legislation does reduce the harms of passive smoking and that populations benefit from reduced exposure to passive smoke. read more

Publishing in the journal Tobacco Control a group of scientists have examined how use of e-cigarettes is related to subsequent smoking behaviour, and report that those who use e-cigarettes were more likely to start smoking cigarettes. read more

Publishing in the journal Tobacco Control a group of scientists have examined how use of e-cigarettes is related to subsequent smoking behaviour, and report that those who use e-cigarettes were more likely to start smoking cigarettes. read more

A meta-analysis of the evidence around e-cigarettes and quitting smoking has been published in the Lancet Respiratory Medicine journal, with the authors reporting that those who used e-cigarettes in their attempts to quit smoking were less successful than those who didn’t. read more

The effect of e-cigarettes on uptake and cessation of smoking of conventional cigarettes is an active area of research and debate, and a group of scientists have published their work in JAMA Pediatrics reporting that in a sample of US young people, use of e-cigarettes was associated with progression to “traditional cigarette smoking”. read more

Publishing in the Journal of the American Medical Association, a group of researchers has investigated a possible connection between e-cigarettes and initiation of smoking, reporting that users of e-cigarettes were more likely than non-users to subsequently try combustible smoking products in the following year. read more