The Brief Addiction Science Information Source (BASIS)

Op-Ed/Editorials: Toward a Public Health Approach to Improve Parameters for Safer Gambling

Allyson J. Peller, M.P.H. Research Associate Division on Addictions, Cambridge Health Alliance Debi A. LaPlante, Ph.D. Instructor of Psychology Division on Addictions, Cambridge Health Alliance Howard J. Shaffer, Ph.D., C.A.S. Director Division on Addictions, Cambridge Health Alliance During recent years, there has been considerable media attention devoted to the potential harms associated with emerging gambling technology. Some advocates claim that emerging gambling technology is hazardous to the public health (i.e., leads to disordered gambling) while other advocates claim that technological interventions can prevent or alleviate gambling-related problems (e.g., reduce users’ spending by limiting the availability and denominations of bill acceptors)... Read more →

ASHES Vol. 3(10) - Beyond Cigarettes: The Prevalence of Polytobacco Use in the United States

Much tobacco research and public health reporting has focused on cigarettes, but seven billion dollars worth of cigars, pipes, and smokeless tobacco are sold in the United States each year (U.S.D.A.). The few studies of polytobacco use (i.e., cigarette use in combination with other tobacco products) suggest that such use can lead to increased risk of tobacco-related diseases and nicotine addiction (Gilpin & Pierce, 2003; Wetter et al., 2002). This week’s ASHES reviews a study which explores the prevalence and characteristics of polytobacco users across the United States. Bombard, Pederson, Nelson, and Malarcher (2007) analyzed the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance... Read more →

The DRAM, Vol. 3(10) - Comorbidity among Repeat Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol Offenders

Psychiatric comorbidity is elevated among people guilty of driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI; Lapham et al., 2001). Consequently, understanding the psychiatric profiles of repeat DUI offenders is important for developing and delivering effective treatment (Nelson et al., 2007). This week’s DRAM presents epidemiological information about the frequency of psychiatric disorders among repeat DUI offenders attending a treatment program compared to the general US adult population (Shaffer, Nelson, LaPlante, LaBrie, & Albanese, 2007). Massachusetts’ judges can offer adults who have received two or more DUI convictions participation in a two-week inpatient treatment program as an alternative to incarceration. As... Read more →

The WAGER Vol. 12(10): Another DUI: Deciding Under the Influence of Emotion

Somatic markers (i.e., affective states associated with former experience) guide healthy decision-making (Bechara & Damasio, 2002). Research suggests that poor decision-making among disordered gamblers (Goudriaan, Oosterlaan, de Beurs, & van den Brink, 2005) might originate from prefrontal cortex dysfunction that impairs the use of somatic markers to guide decisions (Brand et al., 2005; Cavedini, Riboldi, Keller, D'Annucci, & Bellodi, 2002). However, recent research (Preston, Buchanan, Stansfield, & Bechara, 2007) suggests an alternative source of decision-making difficulties on gambling tasks: anticipatory stress. Preston and colleagues (2007) assigned forty university students to either an experimental condition, in which they thought they would... Read more →

STASH Vol. 3(9) - The Tortoise or the Hare: Comparing Physiological & Subjective Effects of Methamphetamine and Cocaine

Conventional wisdom asserts that drugs of abuse have different patterns of action and that a drug of choice among abusers is the drug that best fits abusers’ preferred course of action (Khantzian & Shaffer, 1981; Mathias, 2001; Shaffer & Simoneau, 2001). However, empirical evidence about the matter also indicates that an abuser’s drug of use also depends on its ease of access, ingestion, and surrounding social circumstances (Harford, 1978). In this issue of STASH, we discuss Newton, De La Garza II, Kalechstein, and Nestor’s (2005) comparison of the subjective and physiologic effects of cocaine and methamphetamine. In this single-blind experiment,... Read more →