Response To Rewards

New research from a study conducted by the University of Michigan demonstrates how the brain’s reward system is altered after someone smokes marijuana. Participant’s brains were monitored while they played a game where rewards (monetary) were possible. The study showed that over time, an extended use of marijuana was associated with a lower response to…

Alternatives to Opioid Painkillers on the Horizon

Due to continued and growing concern about the opioid epidemic, scientists are now trying to create an opioid painkiller that relieves pain without triggering the euphoria, dependence, and respiratory suppression that causes overdoses. It is too common of a story that patients who are prescribed opiate pain medications for legitimate pain report becoming addicted to…

College Students Often Start Using Substances in Summer, SAMHSA Study Shows

A first of a kind study, by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services (SAMHSA) conducted in August 2015, shed insight on substance use patterns among one in five full-time college students (18-22) who were using illicit or potentially harmful substances. The study which tracks initiation of use by month shows that the initiation for…

Building LGBT Cultural Competence in Health Care

According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) the rate of Substance Abuse Disorder among the LGBT community isn’t well known but studies indicate that it is somewhere between 20%—30% which is significantly higher than the general population which stands at 9%. Additionally, men who have sex with men are 3.5 times…