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  • About Addiction: Alcohol, breast cancer & war veterans

    Check out our weekly links about addiction! Health Day: A new study shows that breast cancer survivors who smoke are at increased risk for a second cancer. The time frame to develop second cancer is fifteen years. Cesar Fax: Drug positives increase consistently with age amongst DC juvenile arrestees. 53% of the juvenile arrestees tested…

  • Drugs and Pregnancy Part II: Cigarettes and Weed

    We’ve already covered the issue of drinking alcohol while pregnant. Now it’s time for smoking. When a pregnant mother smokes cigarettes, nicotine and carbon monoxide pass across the placental barrier. This disrupts the normal transfer of oxygen and nutrients to the developing fetus, harming its development. Smoking in pregnancy It’s been estimated that nearly 1…

  • Smoking cigarettes just makes it better… The enhancement effect of nicotine

    A recent study by a Kansas state researcher (find it here) reports that part of the power of nicotine may be in its enhancement of other experiences that go hand in hand with it. While the online source I included suggests that nicotine’s effect may be only in this indirect enhancement, my reading of the…

  • Nicotine addiction and genetics – It’s the little things that matter in smoking addiction

    We’ve known for a while that genes play a role in addiction in general and that nicotine is addictive at least in part because it activates receptors for a chemical called Acetylcholine (ACh) that are found all over the brain and body. Nevertheless, finding the specific mechanism for the genetic predisposition has been difficult. Some…

  • Cigarettes, smoking, and drinking alcohol – The connection that may help you quit smoking

    Contributing co-author: Andrew Chen It’s no secret that alcohol and cigarettes go hand in hand, but for most drinker-smokers, the reasons are probably a mystery. Does alcohol simply make people less able to control urges or is there something more direct about the connection between the two? Alcohol reduces control over cravings A recent field…

  • The context of my addiction – Environmental effect on drug use???

    When most people think about addiction, they imagine a person completely unable to control their cravings, always wanting the thing they’re addicted to. That was certainly my experience throughout most of my addiction. So what happens when you just can’t have it? What happens when drug use is just not allowed? What happens if your…

  • Drug use and abuse following terrrorism: Lessons from addiction research

    A recent addiction research article combined findings from 31 different studies to assess the impact of large terrorism events on rates of alcohol, cigarettes, and drug use. The researchers noted that most of the studies occurred after the World Trade bombing of September 11th, 2001. After controlling for the level of exposure, type of event,…

  • And the survey says…

    Well then, it seems that the drug-use survey I created is telling me that my blog readers’ drug use falls right in line with the use patterns common in the country. Most of the readers smoke cigarettes, with marijuana, alcohol, and cocaine close in tow. I didn’t expect the meth, ecstasy, and other drug counts…