In the United States, drinking alcohol is common. It’s a central beverage at events across our entire social spectrum. From informal backyard cookouts where people drink cold beer, to Friday Happy Hours where people drink all manner of cocktails to wind down after the work week, to swanky clubs where…

When I write articles, give lectures, or discuss opioid addiction, known as opioid use disorder (OUD), I always remind the people I’m addressing, whether they’re friends, colleagues, or people I’ve never met, this one thing: opioid addiction knows no boundaries. It can affect anyone, from any walk of life. From…

Opioid addiction knows no bounds. It does not discriminate. Rich, poor, young, old — everyone is vulnerable. Women and men can get addicted. People of any ethnic or cultural background can get addicted. …

The science of addiction has come a long way in the past four decades. Everything from how we approach treatment to the way we talk about addiction has changed. Rather than labeling people with alcohol and drug use problems as drunks, alcoholics, addicts, or junkies, we now use terms that…

Earlier this year in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania — an area hit hard by the opioid epidemic — a group of doctors, nurses, medical researchers, paramedics, addiction counselors, and community leaders sent an open letter to three prominent local officials: the Allegheny County Jail Warden, the County Manager, and the County…

For the past year and a half, we’ve all had our attention on the coronavirus pandemic. And with good reason: it’s taken the lives of far too many of our friends and loved ones, disrupted the lives of almost every citizen in the country, and complicated issues that affect us…

Researchers in addiction science search for the biological and physiological mechanisms that contribute to addiction every day. They perform studies with human subjects, studies on laboratory animals, and studies on the microscopic level in test tubes and petri dishes. They strive to identify the physical mechanisms that may cause addiction…

Last summer, researchers at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver published a study that examined the behavioral and social factors that predict mortality in older adults. The phrase predict mortality may be confusing to many people reading this article: after all, as hard as it is to accept…

I live and work in the northeastern U.S., but I keep an eye on news items from around the country, particularly when they’re related to addiction medicine and my role as the chief medical officer for a national treatment provider. …