Some new, different areas of addiction and some old favorites.  Read on to learn more!

Check out this USA Today story about President Obama’s public health fight and goals of reducing drug usage.  He said prevention and education are really what we need.

Your Brain and Addiction

Science Daily: A genetic variant of a receptor in the brain’s reward circuitry plays an important role in determining whether the neurotransmitter dopamine is released in the brain following alcohol intake.

Health Day: Children who experience psychological disorders such as depression and substance abuse appear to be headed for a financially depressed adulthood.

Science Daily: This article investigates separate and joint effects of alcohol and tobacco on the nucleus accumbens. A new study has found that alcohol abuse elevated the expression of a distinct set of genes in the NAC and VTA while nicotine blunted this effect in the VTA.

Alcohol

APP: This article talks about a new study on alcohol use of teens. The Partnership for a Drug Free America found in a study released in March an 11 percent increase among students in grades 9-12 who reported drinking alcohol in the past month, up to 39 percent in 2009, or 6.5 million students.

Science Daily: This article suggests that frequent alcohol use is linked to faster HIV disease progression. According to the article, HIV disease tends to progress at a faster rate in infected individuals who consume two or more alcoholic drinks a day.

Associated Press: This is a link to a short text which states that the World Health Organization endorsed a global strategy to reduce alcohol abuse. This text calls alcohol use one of the leading causes of sickness and death.

Smoking

Physorg.com: In a new study was found that treatment for smoking dependence is as effective among people with severe mental illnesses as it is for the general population.

Cesar Fax: This  states that cigarette excise tax increased in fifteen states in 2009. Four states have not increased cigarette taxes in more than a decade.

Other Drugs

Reuters: Prescription drug use of US children has risen. Children were the leading growth demographic for the pharmaceutical industry in 2009, with the increase of prescription drug use among youngsters nearly four times higher than in the overall population.

Medical News Today: There are significant changes in substance use treatment admissions patterns that have occurred over the past decade. The co-abuse of alcohol and drugs has declined gradually yet significantly.