Deadly Helium Huffing and new Addiction Treatments
A 14 year old girl died recently from inhaling the inert gas helium. Though it has no psychoactive properties — the girl and those she was partying with likely were also combined drinking and pot smoking with super-cold helium straight out of a cylinder. We discuss this, and huffing in general, and also reported new off-label uses of the the stop-smoking medication Chantix (varenicline) for the treatment of other addictions.
Addiction dangers – not just celebrities
The death of singer Whitney Houston and treatment of actress Demi Moore mistakenly makes us think that celebrities are more prone to addiction issues then everyone else – we look at the issues and some of the questions that arise.
An App for Craving, Inhalable Caffeine & More on Pain Meds
A smartphone app to monitor cravings– a new tool for relapse prevention? Also the newest legal drug – inhalable caffeine … and more on prescription drug use debate (updated.)
Pain Killer Panic ?!
Are we overreacting to the issue of increased use/abuse of pain medication, and we are perhaps still under-treating pain?. We try to look at the bigger issues of what is pain, why does it persist, and even if abuse numbers are low, what are the implications for the addiction-sensitive population.
Social Media, Substance Abuse & Suicide
A recent conference in Hawaii examined the connections between social media, substance abuse and suicide, with a focus on the adolescents. Dr Inaba was one of the featured speakers, and gives us some of the highlights and trends from the conference.
Endorphins, alcohol research & Chinese herbs
A new study finds that liquor releases pleasure-inducing endorphins into the brain. This has long been suspected, but the new study, for the first time, uses humans and sophisticated brain imaging techniques. Somewhat surprisingly, heavy drinkers are especially influenced. This article contains more details. Also we discuss a Chinese herb that has been used for […]