Medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD, i.e., buprenorphine, methadone, naltrexone) save lives, but many individuals are unwilling to receive MOUD treatment. Few longitudinal studies have examined whether social network support for MOUD is related to willingness to receive MOUD.

In the clinical population, cocaine is frequently used sequentially or simultaneously with alcohol, and this pattern is linked to poorer treatment outcomes for cocaine use disorder (CUD). Yet, the impact of ethanol on cocaine reinforcement when non-drug alternatives are available remains unclear. In this study, we examined the effects of ethanol self-administration (1.5g/kg, one hour prior) on cocaine reinforcement under a concurrent cocaine vs. food choice (0.001-0.1mg/kg/injection) procedure in eight socially housed male and female cynomolgus monkeys. Daily sessions consisted of an initial 1hr access to either 1.5g/kg of a sweetened ethanol solution or a sweetened vehicle solution of corresponding volume. These solutions were available in the operant chamber. After the 1-hr fluid access, food (1.0-g food pellet) was available as an alternative to cocaine; only one cocaine dose was available per session. Cocaine choice increased in a dose-dependent manner and ethanol self-administration did not alter the potency of cocaine. To determine whether the reinforcing strength of cocaine was altered by co-use of ethanol, delays were added to the lowest preferred dose of cocaine. When monkeys were exposed to ethanol self-administration, they required longer delays to decrease cocaine choice, suggesting that ethanol increased the reinforcing strength of cocaine. These effects were consistent across sex and social rank. Together, these findings suggest that ethanol may diminish the effectiveness of interventions designed to shift behavior away from cocaine and towards non-drug alternatives. Modeling polysubstance use in preclinical studies will likely improve the likelihood that candidate treatments for CUD will translate successfully to the clinic.

The objective of this study was to examine the effect of Ecological Momentary Motivational Enhancement Therapy (EM-MET) on cannabis use temptation and dependence severity among young adults with Cannabis Use Disorder (CUD).

Synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl, are appearing in the heroin supply in some regions of the world. Fentanyl test strips are an important overdose prevention strategy. However, these services in Africa have been limited, leaving uncertainty about the extent of fentanyl's presence in the drug supply. This cross-sectional study evaluated awareness of drug supply changes and the uptake of fentanyl testing among people who use drugs enrolled in an HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis program in Kampala, Uganda. In 2023-2024, people receiving syringe services or methadone treatment were surveyed and invited to bring drug residue samples to be tested with fentanyl test strips. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression were used to examine correlates. Among 110 survey participants,18 % had recently experienced an overdose, 26 % had heard of fentanyl, and 8 % had knowingly used it. Among the 78 people offered fentanyl testing, 81 % returned with a drug sample for testing. Syringe services participants and people with better transportation access were more likely to return for the testing opportunity. Of 68 samples tested, 46 % were suspected by participants to be cocaine and 40 % street opioids. All but one sample tested negative for fentanyl. All expressed willingness to participate in future testing and would recommend it to others. While fentanyl was not widely detected, high interest among study participants shows its promise as an overdose prevention strategy among people who use drugs. Expanding these services could be beneficial, particularly through community distribution via syringe services programs, and broadening access to novel drug supply additives.

Public perceptions of substance use are important drivers of drug policy, resource allocation, and stigma worldwide. Despite increasing adoption of public health-oriented approaches in some countries, stigma remains a pervasive barrier to harm reduction and treatment engagement. This study examines themes and prevalence of stigmatizing substance use discourse from Canadian city subreddits, providing insights relevant to countries considering policy reform and stigma reduction strategies.

Understanding how retail availability impacts cannabis attitudes and use requires data on the geographic distribution of cannabis dispensaries. However, with no single comprehensive source for dispensary locations, accurately mapping dispensaries presents unique challenges. This study's purpose was to: 1) describe a systematic process for identifying dispensaries that can be applied nationwide using two unexplored resources-RefUSA and Google Maps; 2) compare the accuracy of these resources with three commonly used sources of location data - state regulatory lists, Weedmaps, and Potguide; and 3) examine whether accuracy varies by urbanicity.

Fentanyl has become the dominant opioid in the illicit market in the U.S.; however, trends and variety of substances co-presented in samples involving fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances remain largely unexplored, limiting state public health responses. This paper aims to analyze temporal and geographical trends in substances co-reported with fentanyl in illicit drug supply across the U.S. from 2013 to 2023 to inform overdose prevention strategies.

Alcohol use is linked with HIV-associated sexual behaviors and new HIV infections, and individuals who drink alcohol may benefit from Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) to prevent HIV. We evaluated the prevalence and correlates of current PrEP use and missed PrEP doses due to alcohol.

Opioid addiction is linked to decreased social connections. In preclinical models, non-contingent experimenter-administered morphine decreases unconditioned social interaction and place preference for social reward. We tested if these effects generalize to an operant rat model of social self-administration in which rats work volitionally for access to a peer. Based on the literature, we also tested if a kappa opioid receptor (KOR) antagonist (LY2456302) and serotonin and dopamine reuptake inhibitors (fluoxetine and GBR12909), would independently reverse the effect of morphine exposure on social self-administration. We trained rats (n = 66; 32 females) to lever-press (fixed-ratio 1 reinforcement schedule, 45min, every-other-day) for 15-s access to a peer followed by lever-pressing for food, as a control. In Experiments 1-3, we assessed self-administration during opioid dependence (~16h post-injection), and after early (2-to-6 days) and protracted (21-28 days) withdrawal with different morphine exposure regimens (0-to-80 mg/kg, s.c., twice daily; 0-to-80 mg/kg, once daily; or 0-to-40 mg/kg, every-other-day). In Experiment 4, we tested the effects of LY2456302, fluoxetine, and GBR12909 on self-administration during morphine exposure (every-other-day, 0-to-30 mg/kg). Social interaction functioned as an operant reinforcer. Both social and food self-administration were decreased during morphine exposure (dependence state) but not during early or protracted withdrawal. None of the tested compounds (LY2456302: 5, 10mg/kg, s.c.; fluoxetine: 1, 3mg/kg, i.p.; GBR12909: 3, 10mg/kg, i.p.) reversed this effect. Opioid dependence, but not withdrawal, decreased operant social interaction and food self-administration in male and female rats. This effect appears independent of KOR, serotonin, or dopamine signaling.

Nicotine withdrawal promotes continued use and deters cessation efforts, making it an important target for research and intervention efforts. However, validated measures of e-cigarette withdrawal were absent until the recent addition of the retrospective Nicotine E-cigarette Withdrawal Scale (NEWS), which was developed and validated for adolescents. Here, we evaluated its psychometric properties for use with adults.

Fentanyl can induce laryngospasm in humans and rats, a lethal effect if unresolved. The aim was to compare the effect of ketanserin, alone and combined with naloxone, to resolve fentanyl-induced laryngospasm in a rat model.

Adults' cannabis consumption is increasing in the United States (US) and consumption can increase risks such as impaired driving. Understanding driving after cannabis use (DCU) can guide lifespan-tailored prevention efforts. We evaluated the prevalence and correlates of self-reported DCU among cannabis-using adults ages 50 + .

Patient-perceived Quality-of-Life (QOL) and treatment effectiveness (TEA) have previously been shown to be positively associated with better substance use treatment outcomes.

We evaluated a behavioral intervention (facilitated extinction versus standard cessation counseling) and Very Low Nicotine Content (VLNC) reduction schedule (immediate versus gradual) for smoking cessation in a 2 × 2 design over 5 weeks prior to target quit date (TQD). The facilitated extinction strategies included maintaining the smoking rate across multiple smoking contexts to maximize extinction processes.

Alcohol use surges in late adolescence, particularly among college students, and is associated with a wide variety of negative socio-emotional, academic, legal, and health consequences. Although most studies assess risk for these consequences through self-report of drinking quantity and frequency, ample evidence indicates that youth who drink alcohol can be inaccurate in reporting their drinking behavior and that estimates become increasingly biased as drinking increases. In the current study, we examined two approaches for optimizing self-reported alcohol consumption estimates to assess associations with drinking consequences.

Alcohol intake disrupts cognitive and sensory processing. However, its effects on the role of individual structures within cortical networks, or on the larger network structure, remain unclear. This acute alcohol administration study addressed this gap using graph theory analysis. Healthy individuals (n = 107, 21-45yrs, 61 women) consumed alcohol (0.08g/dL target BrAC) or a placebo drink in 2 double-blinded sessions and self-reported their perceived intoxication using a visual analog scale. Resting state fMRI was acquired with a Siemens Prisma 3T scanner 30min after consumption. The effect of alcohol on graph theory outcomes in a network of 106 cerebral ROIs was identified using the CONN toolbox. We also determined the association between graph theory metrics and subjective intoxication. Results revealed alcohol 1) significantly decreased global efficiency in several occipital nodes and increased global efficiency for nodes within the frontal and temporal cortex; 2) increased local efficiency at a network level as well as in specific nodes in the temporal and frontal cortices; 3) increased degree in frontal and temporal regions; 4) decreased closeness centrality and increased mean path length in parietal and occipital regions as well at the network level compared with placebo conditions. Additionally, decreases in global efficiency and increases in local efficiency and clustering coefficient in the alcohol vs. placebo condition significantly predicted subjective intoxication. Taken together, results provide new evidence that alcohol intake produces changes in the overall topography of the cerebral network that at least partially underlie individual differences in subjective alcohol response.

With the rising prevalence of daily cannabis use in the U.S., more individuals may seek treatment for adverse outcomes (e.g., cannabis use disorder) arising from frequent cannabis use. Adaptive interventions leverage self-reported motives for cannabis use to develop personalized support. Research has demonstrated that these motives can be collected on a yearly, monthly, or daily basis, and strongly predict both the frequency of cannabis use and associated adverse outcomes.

To apply risk compensation theory to naloxone peer access and evaluate whether reported naloxone protection-having naloxone and someone to administer it present when using unprescribed opioids-correlated with greater opioid overdose risk behaviors.

The intestinal microbiome has been identified as a key factor influencing the development and prognosis of alcohol-related liver disease (ARLD). This article aims to systematically review and meta-analyze the alterations in the gut microbiome associated with ARLD, providing a comprehensive overview of these changes.

Substance use disorders (SUDs) pose significant societal challenges, and underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. Work within the growing field of computational psychiatry has begun to offer novel insights into these underlying mechanisms, including impairments in learning from negative outcomes and less deterministic decision-making, among others. However, the longitudinal stability and predictive utility of these computational measures remain underexplored, limiting their clinical applicability.