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A word about animal research and animal rights
Animal research is a controversial topic in some circles. As some of you may know already, a UCLA group has recently banded together to counter-protest the fear-mongering tactics used by animal rights activists. Before UCLA Pro-Test became a reality, researchers on campus would hide away when on campus demonstration came our way. No more. Dr.…
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NIDA and ONDCP – American policy on addiction research
At this year’s College on Problems of Drug Dependence (CPDD) Annual Meeting, I got to hear, and talk to, some of the most influential players in the American addiction research field. Here are a few highlights from their talks and our discussion: Dr. Nora Volkow of NIDA talked about a shift from Genome Wide Association…
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Talking to NIDA about addiction research- Nicotine, cocaine, treatment matching and more
It’s not everyday that I get an invite to speak with NIDA‘s director, Dr. Nora Volkow, and so, even though it required my creative use of some VOIP technology from a living room in Tel-Aviv, I logged onto a conference call led by the leading addiction researcher. When my colleagues, Dirk Hanson and Elizabeth Hartney,…
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Nicotine vaccine? It seems addicts would love one!
Okay, so there’s no vaccine for nicotine yet, but if researchers ever find one (like they did for cocaine), this recent study by a group at the University of Pennsylvania suggests that smokers are ready and willing. In fact, more than half of them were biting at the bit! In case you’re wondering (and don’t…