Although a number of perspectives on drug addiction exist, this chapter focuses on drug addiction as a type of pathology of learning and memory systems, a viewpoint that has become increasingly common since the mid1990s. Both natural rewards and drugs of abuse appear to use the same systems within the brain to influence and reinforce behavior, and it is well known that these systems are involve...

Adolescence is a period of emotional instability, during which high risk behavior including experimentation with drugs common. Clinical manifestations substance abuse and its withdrawal may mimic common illnesses. We report an adolescent who presented acute dysentery unusual course. HEADSS screening revealed psychosocial stressors leading to cannabis addiction. The child was diagnosed have with...

The risks of prescribing pregabalin to patients already addicted illicit drugs or alcohol almost always outweigh the benefits, therefore deprescribing is usually appropriate. This article outlines safe and realistic protocols reduce stop in with major addiction problems.

In the United States, 21.6 million individuals older than 12 are diagnosed with abuse or dependence to drugs and/or alcohol each year [1]. Consequently, direct and indirect costs to society stemming from addiction total more than $700 billion annually in the United States alone [1]. Addiction to drugs and alcohol has long been recognized as a mental health disorder, appearing in some form in th...

Alcohol and other drugs of abuse, including psychostimulants and opioids, can induce epigenetic changes: a contributing factor for drug addiction, tolerance, and associated withdrawal symptoms. DNA methylation is a major epigenetic mechanism and it is one of more than 200 methylation reactions supported by methyl donor S-adenosylmethionine (SAM). Levels of SAM are controlled by cellular redox s...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Use of non-prescribed drugs during treatment for opiate addiction reduces treatment success, creating a need for effective interventions. This review aimed to assess the efficacy of contingency management, a behavioural treatment that uses rewards to encourage desired behaviours, for treating non-prescribed drug use during opiate addiction treatment. METHODS A systematic s...

Benzodiazepines are widely prescribed drugs used to treat anxiety and insomnia, induce muscle relaxation, control epileptic seizures, promote anaesthesia or produce amnesia. Benzodiazepines are also abused for recreational purposes and the number of benzodiazepine abusers is unfortunately increasing. Within weeks of chronic use, tolerance to the pharmacological effects can develop and withdrawa...

During January 1970 to December 1974, 134 deaths in people aged 10-50 years investigated by coroners in Greater London were recorded as being due to drug addiction. Over three-quarters of the addicts were under 30, and 105 (78%) were male; 55 (41%) were unknown to the Home Office. Barbiturate overdose accounted for over half of the deaths, though two-thirds of these were in people registered as...