Kratom, a relatively unknown herb among physicians in the western world, is advertised on the Internet as an alternative to opioid analgesics, as a potential treatment for oploid withdrawal and as a "legal high" with minimal addiction potential. This report describes a case of kratom addiction in a 37-year-old woman with a severe oploid-like withdrawal syndrome that was managed successfully wit...

As new media are becoming daily fare, Internet addiction appears as a potential problem in adolescents. From the reported negative consequences, it appears that Internet addiction can have a variety of detrimental outcomes for young people that may require professional intervention. Researchers have now identified a number of activities and personality traits associated with Internet addiction....

Cannabis is one of the most widely used illicit substance among users of stimulants such as cocaine and amphetamines. Interestingly, increasing recent evidence points toward the involvement of the endocannabinoid system (ECBS) in the neurobiological processes related to stimulant addiction. This article presents an up-to-date review with deep insights into the pivotal role of the ECBS in the ne...

BACKGROUND The use of opioid analgesics in the treatment of chronic pain conditions has long been controversial. They have been reported to be relatively safe when prescribed with caution, but a brief and valid instrument to estimate a person's risk of addiction is still missing. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to investigate a self-rating questionnaire allowing an estimation of a person'...

The involvement of the endocannabinoid system in drug addiction was initially studied by the use of compounds with different affinities for each cannabinoid receptor or for the proteins involved in endocannabinoids inactivation. The generation of genetically modified mice with selective mutations in these endocannabinoid system components has now provided important advances in establishing thei...

Cocaine and methamphetamine addiction is a significant public health concern. The abuse and dependence of these drugs have a damaging impact on the life of the drug user, as well as on the user’s family and community. The development of pharmacotherapies against stimulant addiction is critical, as there are no consistentlysuccessful medications for its treatment[1]. Anti-addiction drug therapie...

As the number of internet users increases, a new game genre using the internet as a networking tool is emerging. Some game genres are regarded as having greater addiction potentials than others. Games and the internet are closely related. We investigated games frequently used by adolescents and classified each of them with the help of game professionals. We also examined internet use patterns t...

Nowadays, social media has become an important tool for individuals to communicate with others. Recent statistics show that a large number of people spend plenty of time on social network websites daily, which may lead to some potential social and psychological problems. In this study, we define the new concept of Social Network Services (SNS) addiction, and claim that it is different from othe...