Addiction Archive

While considered less harmful than smoking tobacco, vaping is not risk-free, so the FDA's recent announcement authorizing sales of new vaping products was surprising. Some research suggests e-cigarettes may help some people quit or cut back on smoking, but there are many concerns about their known and potential health risks — especially for children and teens.

Addiction can affect anyone, but social determinants of health — the factors that influence a person's circumstances in life — can have a negative impact on a person's efforts to overcome addiction.  Poverty, employment status, education level, and systemic racism can make it harder for people to reach and maintain recovery.

It's common for doctors to prescribe opioid pain medications for their patients after surgery; however, prescribing large numbers of pills increases the possibility of dependence and overdose. Writing prescriptions for smaller quantities of pills while still monitoring people's pain is one way to reduce the likelihood that a person develops a problem.

Addiction is now understood to be a neurological disorder that results from changes to the brain's reward center caused by addictive substances. Ideally, treatment for nicotine addiction combines medication to suppress cravings with counseling to help patients reprogram their behavior.

Research we're watching

While opioid use disorders have gotten a lot of attention in recent years, the number of people dying as a result of methamphetamine use is on the rise. A study published Jan. 14, 2021, in The New England Journal of Medicine found that a combination drug therapy may provide some hope in helping people with this difficult-to-treat disorder.

In the trial, half of the 403 adult volunteers were given a combination of two drugs: naltrexone, which is used to treat both opioid and alcohol use disorders, and bupropion, an antidepressant. The other half of the group received a placebo. The treatment period began in 2017 and ended in 2019. During that time people were given periodic urine tests to gauge whether they used methamphetamines. Those who had at least three of four drug-free tests were defined as having responded to treatment. Researchers found that by weeks five and six, 16.5% of the treatment group had responded to treatment, compared with 3.4% of the control group. By weeks 11 and 12, 11.4% of the treatment group met the urine test criteria for successful treatment, compared with less than 2% of the control group. Most people who received the drug treatment didn't have any serious side effects.

Because change is so difficult, it's useful to have a guide when attempting to kick an addiction to drugs, alcohol or behavior. Research shows that the following steps can help you move toward your recovery goals. You have the greatest chance of success if you adopt all five steps.

1. Set a quit date. It might be helpful to choose a meaningful date like a special event, birthday, or anniversary.