There’s something remarkable about identifying a common brain network underlying substance use disorders (Nature Mental Health). This commonality was not a given -- the results could have gone the other way -- but its existence is reassuring for how it unifies the disorders of addiction.

A study from New York has found that increasing temperatures are associated with increased hospital visits related to alcohol and substance use (Communications Medicine)...

Tucked within social determinants of health are commercial determinants which have a particular interest in “addictiveness.” This is clearly evident in the lead article demonstrating how tobacco companies shifted the US food industry towards hyperpalatability beginning in the 1980s (Addiction).

Both the RAND Corporation and SAMHSA recently released reports providing broad perspectives on addiction in America. At over 600 pages, “America’s Opioid Ecosystem” (RAND) is a comprehensive review of the dynamic systems and issues underlying not only America’s opioid crisis but the entire addiction ecosystem.

This week we showcase publications from leading journals across the scientific fields. In a way, this mirrors the diversity of specialists in clinical settings and beyond who collaborate to treat addiction.

Prevalence of Cannabis Use Disorder and Reasons for Use Among Adults.

Examining sociodemographic correlates of opioid use, misuse, and use disorders in the All of Us Research Program

Marijuana and hallucinogen use, binge drinking reached historic highs among adults 35 to 50

Perceptions of Safety of Daily Cannabis vs Tobacco Smoking and Secondhand Smoke Exposure, 2017-2021

The Future of Addiction Treatment Lies in Narrowing the Treatment Gap

In the time of the worst overdose crisis in American history, those of us who work in the field of addiction medicine have the responsibility of bringing treatment to where patients with addiction are. The addiction treatment gap refers to the approximately 94% of people with one or more DSM-5 defined substance use disorders (SUDs) who did not receive any addiction treatment (according to the SAMHSA’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) conducted in 2021).

ASAM Clinical Considerations: Buprenorphine Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder

Guest Editorial by David A. Gorelick, MD, PhD, DLFAPA, FASAM

Cannabis potency, the content of ∆9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), usually expressed as the percentage of dry weight, has increased substantially worldwide over the past four decades [1]. This higher potency poses a risk of increased harms because of evidence of a positive association between cannabis potency and adverse psychiatric effects from long-term cannabis use. This article reviews the evidence for this association.

Remove Arbitrary Barrier to Evidence-based Treatment for Stimulant Use Disorder

Although the current overdose crisis in the US is almost universally referred to as the “opioid” or “fentanyl crisis”1,2, the overdose death rate associated with psychomotor stimulants including methamphetamine and cocaine has also dramatically increased in recent years.

Questioning the Right to Pain Relief and Its Role in the Opioid Epidemic

Xylazine effects on opioid-induced brain hypoxia

Psychedelics reopen the social reward learning critical period

Reduced Stress-Related Neural Network Activity Mediates the Effect of Alcohol on Cardiovascular Risk