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Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs News
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Top national news about alcohol, drug and tobacco problems.
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Bill to Cut Penalties for Crack Cocaine Heads to Obama
Mandatory-minimum prison sentences for crack-cocaine would only kick in when defendants possess 28 grams or more of the drug under legislation passed last week by the U.S. House of Representatives.
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Gene May Influence Drinking in Social Settings
Do you find yourself drinking more heavily when you are out with friends? There may be a gene for that.
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Colo. Set to Regulate Medical Marijuana from 'Seed to Sale'
The head of Colorado's medical-marijuana enforcement effort promises a comprehensive plan that other states could adopt as a model.
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Researchers Say Nicotine Craving May Be More Mental than Physical
Israeli researchers who studied nicotine craving among flight attendants concluded that the desire for a cigarette may have more to do with habit than addiction to nicotine.
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Washington Imposes New Rules on Prescribing Powerful Painkillers
The state of Washington plans to impose tough new rules on doctors who want to prescribe opiate painkillers to patients, including mandatory third-party evaluation of patients who request higher doses of the drug but don’t show signs of improvement.
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Clergy a Common Resource for People Battling Addiction
About 15 percent of people seeking recovery from alcoholism turn to clergy members for support, a University of Michigan study finds.
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Conn. Candidates Spar on Marijuana Use, Legalization
Republican candidates for Congress are slinging accusations of hypocrisy over marijuana use and policy, including the spectacle of a candidate who favors legalization defending a YouTube video focused on his opponent’s arrest a decade earlier for marijuana possession.
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Smoking Alters Hundreds of Genes, Study Finds
Smoking causes dangerous changes in literally hundreds of genes in the body, including those related to tumor growth, inflammatory disease and immune-system suppression, according to researchers from the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research.
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Doctors Not Reporting Impaired Colleagues, Survey Finds
A study from the Harvard Medical School found that 17 percent of doctors knew of drunk, addicted or otherwise incompetent colleagues, but one-third said they did nothing to report the behavior.
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Police Challenged by Crashes Involving Prescription Drugs
Car crashes involving prescription drugs are often harder to detect and prosecute than those involving alcohol or illicit drugs.
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U.S. Ban on Clove Cigarettes Draws International Scrutiny
U.S. lawmakers say they banned clove cigarettes because of their health risks and appeal to young smokers, but the World Trade Organization (WTO) is investigating whether the ban violated international free-trade agreements.
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Proposed FDA Plan on Prescription Drugs Rejected
A lack of mandated training for physicians has helped sink a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposal intended to curb misuse of prescription drugs.
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Veterans Dept. Allows Use of Medical Marijuana
Veterans in states with medical-marijuana laws will be allowed to use the drug without losing their access to pain medication under a new policy announced by the federal Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
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More Americans Making Moonshine
Recession penny-pinching and the homemade food fad are driving more Americans -- from hobbyists to trendy hipster kids -- to make homemade liquor, or moonshine.
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Virginia Governor Leads Drive for Privatization of Liquor Distribution
Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell has spent months quietly trying to build consensus around a plan to shutter state liquor stores established after Prohibition and return the distribution of alcohol to private wholesalers and retailers.
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Snuff Sales, Price Hikes Bolster Tobacco Profits
Higher snuff sales, cost-cutting and price increases led the nation's biggest tobacco company, Altria Group Inc., to a 3.2-percent increase in second-quarter profits.
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Oakland OKs Plan for Four Big Marijuana Farms to Supply Medical Users
Seeking greater control over who supplies marijuana to legal medical users, the city of Oakland has approved a plan that would license four large marijuana farms and sets hefty regulatory fees on the operations.
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Few Colleges Follow NIAAA Advice to Prevent Student Drinking
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) gave colleges detailed advice on how to prevent student drinking in 2002, but the recommendations have not been widely adopted, according to a new study from the University of Minnesota.
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Parents Who Use Drugs to Quell Children Called Abusive
Sedating children with over-the-counter or prescription medications may be an under-recognized form of abuse.
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Skepticism Greets Industry Claims on Menthol Safety
U.S. tobacco companies have ramped up a campaign to keep menthol cigarettes on the market, but U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials are skeptical of claims that menthols are no more harmful than regular cigarettes and want to see more data from the industry.
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