The Brief Addiction Science Information Source (BASIS)

The DRAM, Vol. 12(7) – But what do THEY think? Social norms about college drinking

Social norms are rules and ideas that describe what people consider acceptable and unacceptable behavior. Some norms are injunctive norms – perceptions of what other people approve and disapprove of. Others are descriptive norms – perceptions of what people actually do. Over the past few years, researchers have been looking for ways to change college students’ social norms about alcohol use. The theory is that if we change college students’ injunctive or descriptive norms, we can cut the risk of binge drinking. This week, The DRAM reviews a study by Jennifer Merrill and her colleagues that polled college students on... Read more →

Moderation, Hope and Compassion: A Physician’s Prescription for Responding to the Opioid Epidemic

The following editorial was written by Dr. Mark Albanese, a psychiatrist, educator, and scientist who advocates for evidence-based care of opioid dependence and other expressions of addiction. This editorial is part of our Special Series on Opioid Dependence and Recovery. Unless you have Rip Van Winkled through the past few years, you know that opioids have become a problem for our country. There has been a lot of shouting and hand-waving about who is to blame. An especially popular explanation is physicians who have been overzealous in prescribing opioid pain medications. This is ironic for me, since I am old... Read more →

The WAGER, Vol. 21(7) – Are those in methadone maintenance at increased risk for excessive gambling after a new casino opens?

For a long time, many have assumed that gambling expansion inevitably would lead to increased rates of gambling and gambling related problems. Research indicates that the relationship between gambling expansion and behavior is more complicated—gambling expansion will affect different communities in different ways. This week, as we continue our Special Series on Opioid Dependence and Recovery, The WAGER reviews a study by Jessica Palmer-Bacon and her colleagues that explored the impact of a new casino on a population vulnerable to co-occurring mental health problems, those in methadone maintenance treatment (MMT). What was the research question? Among those in a MMT... Read more →

STASH, Vol. 12(6) – When it comes to methadone maintenance treatment, one size does not fit all

Did you know that methadone maintenance treatment (MMT), is one of the most effective treatments for opioid use disorders, especially when patients stay in treatment for at least 12 months? In fact, stopping MMT prematurely risks negative outcomes, including death. As a result, a group of researchers recently studied which patients are most at risk for stopping MMT too soon. Today, as part of our Special Series on Opioid Dependence and Recovery, we review their study. What is the research question? Which factors predict stopping methadone maintenance treatment too early? What did the researchers do? Steven Proctor and his colleagues... Read more →

Hope Sick

Editor’s note: This article was written by “JG,” a student at William J. Ostiguy High School, a recovery high school in Boston, Massachusetts. JG shares his experiences with a substance use disorder and other challenges. We are grateful that he has chosen to share his story with readers of The BASIS. In some places, we have supplemented JG’s article with some details from the scientific literature; please see the Footnotes. Please be aware that this article includes descriptions of substance use and its consequences. Just another chapter in the pathetic story of a heroin addict.[1] The sun creeps through my... Read more →

Introducing First Person: Personal Narratives of Addiction

For the past two decades, we have been proud to use The BASIS to introduce readers to the latest advances in the scientific study of addiction. Each week, we describe a recent study that adds to our understanding of how people relate to gambling, alcohol, tobacco, or other substances and activities. The studies we summarize take a nomothetic approach. Researchers using a nomothetic approach assemble samples of people who share similar characteristics. They collect data from these samples and try to generalize their findings to the populations from which the samples were drawn. Because of nomothetic research, we know, for... Read more →

ASHES, Vol. 12(6) – What predicts what? Cigarette use as a risk factor for nonmedical prescription opioid use

People who misuse prescription opioids risk addiction, other kinds of illnesses, and death. Therefore, it is important to understand what predicts non-medical prescription opioid (NMPO) use. Brooke Arterberry and her colleagues used national survey data to examine how use of different substances, including tobacco, relates to different stages of NMPO use. This week, as part of our Special Series on Opioid Dependence and Recovery, ASHES reviews the tobacco findings from their study. What was the research question? Does early tobacco use and frequency of tobacco use relate to non-medical use of opioids? What did the researchers do? Arterberry and her... Read more →

The DRAM, Vol. 12(6) - The reality of Alcohol Dependence: The complex case is the norm, not the exception

For many, alcohol dependence (AD) is a multi-layered disorder. For these individuals, AD might co-occur with other mental health and/or substance use problems, such as opioid dependence. Research has shown that among people with AD, additional mental health and substance use problems likely contribute to risky behavior like driving under the influence. As part of our new Special Series on Opioid Dependence and Recovery, this week The DRAM reviews a study by Howard Moss and his colleagues that examines of the relationship between drug use, mental health disorders, and alcohol use patterns among those with AD. What was the research... Read more →

Introduction to the Special Series on Opioid Dependence and Recovery

Many American policy makers are proposing ways for the health and criminal justice systems to respond to the current drug dependence and overdose epidemic. And rightly so: according to the most recent available statistics, every day in the United States 130 people die from drug overdoses, and 80 of those deaths involve an opioid. The most commonly cited explanations for the epidemic of opioid dependence and overdose tend to involve the properties of opioids and the environment within which they are taken. Consider America’s history with the opioid painkiller OxyContin: the drug is powerful and becomes especially prone to abuse... Read more →