Researchers in the United States have set out plans for a major review into how chronic pain and substance use are connected, hoping to answer questions that have gone largely unexamined for more than a decade. The protocol, published in PLOS One and led by Andrew H. Rogers of the University at Buffalo alongside colleagues...
Alcohol related cancer deaths in the United States have doubled over the past three decades. That is the central finding of a major new study published in The Lancet Regional Health Americas. Researchers found that annual deaths rose from 11,361 in 1990 to 23,126 in 2023. The trend touches far more than the liver. The...
Public Health Scotland has published its latest statistics on alcohol harm in Scotland, and the results tell two different stories. Deaths linked to drinking fell sharply last year. Hospital admissions held firm, though, and the gap between Scotland’s richest and poorest communities remains vast. Public Health Scotland updated the Alcohol Consumption and Harms Dashboard on...
New global research has found that deaths from alcohol related liver cancer are climbing again after years of decline. The reversal began almost exactly when the world went into lockdown. The finding sets the disease apart from other alcohol attributable conditions, most of which kept falling even as the pandemic disrupted health systems worldwide. The...
A new study from the University of Michigan has found that marijuana addiction rates among US adults aged 40 to 50 have nearly doubled since 2017, and public health experts are pointing directly at state legalisation as the driving force. The Numbers Behind the Headline The annual analysis, drawn from self-reported drug use data collected...
Most people think of Medicaid as someone else’s programme. A safety net for people far removed from their own lives. That assumption doesn’t hold up well once you look at the numbers. Medicaid currently covers around 74 million people in the United States, roughly one in five residents. It pays for 40% of all births....
Mapping the Nation’s Drinking Habits New analysis of alcohol consumption in the UK has revealed sharp differences in drinking habits among almost 1.7 million adults. The gaps run between generations, sexes and income brackets. Together they offer the clearest picture yet of who is most likely to drink beyond safe limits. The study comes from...
New research tracking more than 40,000 people prescribed opioid agonist treatment in Scotland has found that illicit benzodiazepine use is one of the strongest predictors of drug related death. The risk holds whether someone is currently in treatment or has recently stopped. Published in the International Journal of Drug Policy, the study was led by...
Needle and syringe sharing among people who inject drugs has climbed to its highest level in ten years. That is the headline finding from new figures published by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). The data comes from the 2024 Unlinked Anonymous Monitoring (UAM) Survey of HIV and viral hepatitis among people who inject drugs....
For many loved ones with addiction in the household, grief rarely arrives in one clear moment. Instead, it lingers quietly. It resurfaces whenever a familiar face suddenly feels like a stranger. A newly published study now gives that experience a name. It also explains why families affected by addiction so often describe their pain as...