For 30 years, NIDA Notes provided in-depth coverage of research findings on drug misuse and addiction. NIDA Notes was discontinued in 2021.
This is Archived content. This content is available for historical purposes only. It may not reflect the current state of science or language from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). For current information, please visit nida.nih.gov.
Behavioral Response to Novelty Foreshadows Neurological Response to Cocaine
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NIDA-supported researchers Dr. Cheryl Kirstein and Ms. Kirstie Stansfield at the University of South Florida have found that higher scores on tests of impulsivity and some behavioral responses to novelty...
Journal Highlights Opportunities in Hispanic Drug Abuse Research
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"Scientific Opportunities in Hispanic Drug Abuse Research," a NIDA-funded supplemental issue of Drug and Alcohol Dependence published in September 2006, compiles information on drug abuse among this fast-growing and diverse...
NIDA's National Advisory Council Welcomes New Members
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The National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse introduced four new members at its May meeting at NIDA headquarters in Rockville, Maryland. NIDA Deputy Director Dr. Tim Condon, National Advisory Council...
Stress Response May Underlie African- Americans' Reduced Pain Tolerance
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Recent NIDA-funded research suggests a physiological difference as the explanation for African-Americans' reported low tolerance for pain. Dr. Susan Girdler and colleagues at the University of North Carolina at Chapel...
NIDA Launches Criminal Justice Publication in Chicago
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Cook County, Illinois, Chief Judge Timothy Evans addresses the conference NIDA Director Dr. Nora D. Volkow joined Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley; Cook County, Illinois, Chief Judge Timothy Evans; and...
Study Finds Withdrawal No Easier With Ultrarapid Opiate Detox
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Heroin-addicted patients who undergo so-called ultrarapid, anesthesia-assisted detoxification suffer withdrawal symptoms as severe as those endured by patients in detoxification by traditional methods, according to a NIDA-funded clinical trial. Researchers...
First-time Patients Opt for Office-Based Buprenorphine
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Patients starting buprenorphine treatment in a New Haven, Connecticut primary care clinic (PCC) are more likely to be new to treatment than those beginning methadone at an opioid treatment program...
High School Seniors Steadily Increase Nonmedical Use of Sedatives Over 15 years
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The annual Monitoring the Future Survey identified a disturbing pattern in the nonmedical use of sedatives, including barbiturates, among 12th graders: The overall prevalence has risen steadily since 1992, and...
Marijuana Smoking Is Associated With a Spectrum of Respiratory Disorders
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A large new epidemiological study suggests that marijuana smoke can cause the same types of respiratory damage as tobacco smoke. Significant associations between marijuana smoking and a variety of respiratory...
Steroid Abuse Is a High-Risk Route to the Finish Line
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Starting last fall, capitalizing on the interest raised by the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, NIDA intensified its campaign to warn young people that steroid abuse is a dangerous way...
Low-Cost Incentives Improve Outcomes in Stimulant Abuse Treatment
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The opportunity to win rewards worth as little as $1 for abstinence can help motivate outpatients to stay in behavioral therapy and remain drug-free, according to a NIDA Clinical Trials...
Buprenorphine Plus Behavioral Therapy Is Effective For Adolescents With Opioid Addiction
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Adolescents addicted to opioids responded better to buprenorphine than clonidine in a clinical trial in which all patients also received behavioral therapy. In the NIDA-supported comparison trial at the University...
Brain Mechanism Turns Off Cocaine-Related Memory in Rats
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Scientists at the University of California, Irvine, have added to evidence that a brain enzyme controls key memory processes that link drug experiences, the surroundings in which they take place...
Walk the Line Is Among 10th Annual PRISM Awardees
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Winners of the 10th Annual PRISM Awards include Walk the Line, a film portraying the life of singer Johnny Cash and his battle with drug addiction. The awards, cosponsored by...
Methylphenidate for Comorbid Cocaine Abuse, ADHD
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In an inpatient study with 14 non-treatment-seeking volunteers, Columbia University researcher Dr. Stephanie Collins and colleagues reported that a regimen of 40-60 mg/day of sustained-release methylphenidate (SR-MPH) reduced ratings on...
Ethnicity Influences Early Smoking and Progression to Drug Abuse
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African-Americans are less likely than European-Americans and Latinos to begin smoking in early adolescence or report dependence on illicit drugs during young adulthood. In a 10-year study, Dr. William Vega...
Checkup System Catches Relapse Early and Facilitates Return to Treatment
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Supplementing regular recovery checkups with motivational interviewing and active linking to treatment can get relapsing patients back into treatment sooner and help them stay longer, report NIDA-funded researchers. In the...
Drugs Affect Men's and Women's Brains Differently
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Two recent NIDA-funded studies cast new light on men's and women's different responses to nicotine, cocaine, and alcohol. Dr. Steven G. Potkin and colleagues at the University of California (UC)...
Methamphetamine Evokes and Subverts Brain Protective Responses
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NIDA-supported researchers have produced brain images demonstrating that structures in an area called the striatum expand in volume during early methamphetamine abuse, then regress toward normal. The investigators believe their...
Court-Mandated Treatment Works as Well as Voluntary
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A group of men who completed court-ordered treatment for alcohol and drug problems reported lower intrinsic motivation at the beginning of treatment, but, 5 years later, reported the same rates...
Medications Development Division Nurtures the Creation of New Addiction Treatments
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In the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, Congress mandated NIDA to promote the development of medications "to treat the symptoms and disease of drug abuse." Research by NIDA-supported scientists and...
Bulletin Board
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NIDA Honors Dr. William L. Dewey NIDA Director Dr. Nora D. Volkow presents the NIDA Service Award to The Friends of NIDA creator Dr. William L. Dewey. Director Dr. Nora...
Methamphetamine Increases, and HIV Decreases, Brain Volumes
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In a study that confirmed the association between HIV infection and loss of brain volume, NIDA-funded investigators also found an association between methamphetamine addiction and increased regional brain volume. Each...
Challenges in HIV/AIDS Research
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The HIV/AIDS epidemic has always been a moving target for health and prevention planners, with infection rates rising in some population groups as they level off or fall in others...
Drug Abuse Continues to Decline Among Adolescents
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Drug abuse among adolescents aged 12 to 17 declined 9 percent between 2002 and 2004, according to a nationwide survey tracking substance abuse trends. Recently released results from the 2004...
Research in Brief: Highlights of Recently Published NIDA-Supported Studies
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"Light" Cigarettes Deliver Heavy Carcinogen Load New research confirms that smokers who switch to low-tar and low-nicotine brands of cigarettes modify the way they smoke to compensate for the lower...
Sensory Aspects May Drive Addiction in Obese Smokers
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For obese smokers, the taste and smell of a lit cigarette may play as powerful a part in addiction as does the nicotine buzz. For these smokers, nicotine replacement therapies...
On-Site Psychiatric Treatment Improves Abstinence in Teens With Co-occurring Disorders
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Six months after they began substance abuse treatment, teens who also participated in therapy for their other psychiatric problems were more likely to demonstrate abstinence than peers who did not...
Community-Based Treatment Benefits Methamphetamine Abusers
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Methamphetamine abusers can achieve long-term abstinence with the help of standard community based drug abuse treatment. Nine months after beginning therapy, 87 percent of patients treated for heavy or long-term...
Bulletin Board
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Clinical Trials Network Adds Texas and Appalachia Sites NIDA's Clinical Trials Network (CTN) now encompasses 17 sites across the United States. The CTN sites, called nodes, bring together community treatment...
Bupropion Helps People With Schizophrenia Quit Smoking
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The smoking-cessation aid bupropion is safe and effective for people with schizophrenia, researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School have found. In a NIDA-funded study of smokers with...
Animal Experiments in Addiction Science
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Research using animals has contributed immensely to our understanding of drug abuse and its consequences, prevention, and treatment. Animal studies have yielded fundamental insights into why people abuse drugs and...
Highlights of Recently Published NIDA-Supported Studies
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Nicotine and Cocaine Vaccines Move Forward NICOTINE: A vaccine to prevent nicotine addiction demonstrated a good safety profile in a recent clinical trial with 68 healthy smokers. Dr. Dorothy Hatsukami...
MTF Survey Finds Overall Decline in Teen Substance Abuse
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Substance abuse among teenagers in the United States declined 19 percent over the past 4 years, with 15.8 percent reporting past-month abuse in 2005, compared with 19.4 percent in 2001...
Animal Research Shows GHB Acts on GABA Receptors
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Baboons that are chronically exposed to gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB), a club drug known as "liquid ecstasy" and "Georgia home boy," develop withdrawal symptoms when drug administration stops, NIDA-supported investigators have shown...
Cocaine Abuse and HIV Are Linked With Coronary Calcification
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Cocaine abuse and HIV infection each raise the likelihood that calcium deposits will form in coronary arteries, according to a NIDA-supported study. The findings, by Dr. Shenghan Lai and colleagues...
Abuse Drops When High School Seniors View Marijuana as Dangerous
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The graphic shows the relationship between two trends identified in the annual Monitoring the Future Survey of 12th-graders. The annual prevalence of marijuana abuse by high school seniors falls when...
Research Network Tests Drug Abuse Treatment Following Incarceration
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A majority of current and former prisoners (60 to 80 percent) in the Nation's criminal justice system were convicted on drug-related charges: possession, trafficking, crimes committed while under the influence...
Treatment During Work Release Fosters Offenders' Successful Community Reentry
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Addiction treatment for prisoners during the pivotal time when they are returning to the community has a strikingly persistent benefit and may create a 'turning point' that helps them stay...
Brain Activity Patterns Signal Risk of Relapse to Methamphetamine
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NIDA-supported investigators have found that functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of the brain, performed during a psychological test, can predict with high accuracy whether an individual will relapse following treatment...
Bulletin Board
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Dr. Bill Carlezon Receives the 2005 Jacob P. Waletzky Memorial Award Selection Committee Chairman Dr. Robert Malenka (right) congratulates Dr. Bill Carlezon, 2005 Jacob P. Waletzky Memorial Award recipient. Dr...
Genetic Predisposition and Depression Both Influence Teen Smoking
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NIDA-supported scientists have found that a gene, called DRD2, partly determines whether an adolescent who takes a first puff on a cigarette will progress to regular smoking. Adolescents who carry...
Highlights of Recently Published NIDA-Supported Studies
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Genes and Amphetamine Individuals who inherit a particular variant of the DAT1 gene from both parents may have a degree of innate protection against becoming chronic abusers of amphetamine or...
Studies Identify Factors Surrounding Rise in Abuse of Prescription Drugs by College Students
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Prescription drug abuse among students in U.S. colleges and universities has been rising for several years. The 2004 Monitoring the Future (MTF) Survey of College Students and Adults—the most recent...
Treatment Curbs Methamphetamine Abuse Among Gay and Bisexual Men
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Behavioral therapy can help gay and bisexual men (GBM) reduce methamphetamine abuse and risky sexual behaviors and sustain these gains for 1 year, NIDA-funded researchers report. By the end of...
Combination Treatment for One Year Doubles Smokers' Quit Rate
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Most smokers understand the health risks associated with tobacco use and want to stop, but the addictive grip of nicotine makes quitting difficult; nearly 80 percent of smokers who try...
Map of Human Genome Opens New Opportunities for Drug Abuse Research
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Just under 3 years ago, scientists published the first complete maps of the human genome, the paired strands of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) that direct the development of every human cell...
NIDA at Work: AIDS Research Program
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NIDA disburses more than $275 million annually to support research on HIV and AIDS. The mandate to ensure that this investment yields the greatest possible return in new knowledge leading...
NIDA and Scholastic Offer Teens and Teachers New "Heads Up"
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NIDA and Scholastic, Inc., have joined forces to produce a third installment of the series Heads Up: Real News About Drugs and Your Body (Scholastic Web Site). The new science-based...
Telephone-Based Continuing Care Sustains Abstinence
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Telephone-based continuing care, in which an addiction counselor supports patient recovery with 15-minute calls once a week, can be as good as or better than face-to-face care at helping most...
NIDA Research Identifies Proteins That Direct Formation of the Brain's Communication Circuits
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NIDA-supported investigators have identified a pair of proteins that direct the formation of cell-to-cell connections—called synapses—that control the flow of information through the brain. An understanding of normal synapse formation...
Inhalant Abuse: Danger Under the Kitchen Sink
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Drug abuse among the Nation's young people declined substantially in the past three years, with 600,000 fewer teens abusing drugs, according to the most recent NIDA-University of Michigan Monitoring the...
Study Points to Acetaldehyde-Nicotine Combination in Adolescent Addiction
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The teen years are when most smokers first light up, and adolescents become addicted to tobacco faster than adults. Research has suggested that young people are particularly vulnerable to smoking...
HIV/AIDS Research and Education Are Crucial to Drug Abuse Prevention
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Behavior associated with drug abuse is the single largest factor in the spread of HIV infection in the United States, where about one-third of HIV/AIDS cases are related to injection...
Modafinil Improves Behavioral Therapy Results in Cocaine Addiction
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NIDA-supported researchers evaluating modafinil's potential to enhance behavioral treatment for cocaine addiction have reported a second successful clinical efficacy trial. The new results affirm and extend the promising findings of...
Bulletin Board
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Ray, Jamie Foxx Among Winners of 9th Annual PRISM Awards NIDA Deputy Director Tim Condon (third from left) with (from left) Dwayne Proctor and Kristin Schubert of The Robert Wood...
Expanded HIV Testing: Benefits May Warrant Costs
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Offering voluntary HIV testing on a routine basis in outpatient health care settings would slow the spread of HIV and improve the survival of many of the estimated 280,000 Americans...
A Brief Encounter With Peer Educator Can Motivate Abstinence
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A single meeting with a peer addiction educator during a routine medical visit has helped out-of-treatment cocaine and opiate abusers attain abstinence, report NIDA-funded researchers who conducted a study at...
First-Grade Intervention Reduces Smoking Initiation in Middle School
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First graders who receive systematic help in learning to concentrate and control their behavior are less likely to begin smoking in the middle-school years than children who receive no special...
NIDA Intensifies Focus on Marijuana Abuse
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More than 96 million Americans have smoked marijuana at least once. Marijuana abuse is particularly prevalent among adolescents: Of the more than 2 million people who abuse the drug for...
Site on Brain Cells Appears Crucial to Nicotine Addiction
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Using genetic engineering, NIDA-supported scientists have produced a strain of mice with special characteristics that can help researchers identify and study key steps in the development of nicotine addiction. By...
Disulfiram Reduces Cocaine Abuse
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Disulfiram, a well-established medication for the treatment of alcoholism, has helped people addicted to cocaine reduce abuse of the drug from 2.5 days a week to 0.5 days a week...
Network Therapy Enhances Office-Based Buprenorphine Treatment Outcomes
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Network therapy—an office-based behavioral treatment that engages family and close friends in the recovery process—enhances abstinence among outpatients being treated with buprenorphine for opioid addiction. By the end of an...
Bulletin Board
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Institute of Medicine Report Recommends NIDA Research Agenda for New Addiction Therapies A mother asks a pediatrician to vaccinate her child against nicotine's pleasurable effects, practically eliminating the possibility that...
ATHENA Program Reduces Substance Abuse by Girls on High School Sports Teams
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High school girl athletes who participated in a recently evaluated NIDA-supported nutritional and behavioral guidance program were less likely than nonparticipating peers to engage in substance abuse and other high-risk...
NIDA Web Site Addresses Consequences of Steroid Abuse
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Despite its dangers, anabolic steroid abuse continues as athletes and others attempt to gain competitive advantage and to enhance their musculature, NIDA Director Nora D. Volkow said in recent testimony...
Plant Derivative Blocks MDMA's Hyperthermic Effects
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The club drug MDMA ("Ecstasy") suppresses the 's temperature-regulating system, occasionally with fatal consequences. Abusers have developed temperatures as high as 109°F, suffered multiple organ failure, and died. Treatment in...
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapies Curb Substance Abuse and Symptoms of PTSD
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Two types of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for drug abuse, "relapse prevention" and "seeking safety," have shown promise in the treatment of women who abuse drugs and also have posttraumatic stress...
Brain Power! Aims to Instill Lifetime Interest in Science
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Brain Power! The NIDA Junior Scientist Program takes students through a step-by-step exploration of science. The Web-based program describes what scientists do, the various functions of the brain and nervous...
Bulletin Board
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Trauma-Related Substance Abuse Persists After Mental Health Symptoms Abate Mental health symptoms that New York City residents developed following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks resolved significantly within 9 months...
Brain Awareness Week Teaches Kids How Their Brain Works
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The fifth annual Brain Awareness Week took place March 14-18 at the National Museum of Health at the Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C., as part of a worldwide...
NIDA Research Illuminates Associations Between Psychiatric Disorders and Smoking
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Nearly half of all cigarettes sold in the United States are sold to people with mental illness, and men and women with mental disorders are twice as likely as the...
NIDA Responds to Changing Drug Abuse Patterns
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Two new NIDA initiatives address the accelerating increase in abuse of opioid pain medications and bring a powerful new transdisciplinary conceptual framework called social neuroscience to bear on the broad...
Twin Study Links Marijuana Abuse, Suicide, and Depression
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Men and women who smoked marijuana before age 17 are 3.5 times as likely to attempt suicide as those who started later. Individuals who are dependent on marijuana have a...
Bulletin Board
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CTN UPDATE: Blending Initiative Introduces Two New Training Programs Addiction treatment providers will soon have access to two training programs designed to help them integrate buprenorphine treatment protocols and the...
Cocaine-Related Environmental Cues Elicit Physiological Stress Responses
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Drug Cues Induce Physiological Stress Responses in Cocaine-Addicted Patients. Cortisol levels, which normally decline in the morning, remain relatively high in cocaine-addicted patients after they listen to a five-minute tape...
Researchers Investigate Cocaine "Abstinence Syndrome"
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Researchers have long focused on motivation as the centerpiece of the addiction puzzle, based on the observation that in many addicted individuals, compulsive drug-seeking behavior overtakes the most fundamental motivators...
Inhalant Abuse Disorders Tied to Cluster of Adolescent Behavior Problems
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Two million teenagers in the United States have sniffed or inhaled a substance such as glue, gasoline, solvents, nitrous oxide, or spray paint to get high. Most young people who...
Bulletin Board
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Society for Neuroscience Honors Dr. Antonello Bonci's Research Dr. Antonello Bonci Dr. Antonello Bonci, a neurologist and electrophysiologist at the University of California, San Francisco, and the Ernest Gallo Clinic...
A Single Cocaine "Binge" Can Establish Long-Term Cue-Induced Drug-Seeking in Rats
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When people abuse a drug, they learn to associate its pleasurable effects with the surroundings in which they experience them. This learning plays a major role in addiction. Former drug...
Topiramate Shows Promise in Cocaine Addiction
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In a small pilot study, topiramate—a medication currently used to treat seizure disorders—has helped cocaine-addicted outpatients stay off the drug continuously for 3 weeks or more. That may not seem...
Nicotine Withdrawal Linked to Disrupted Glutamate Signaling
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Asking a Rat, "How Do You Feel?" Dr. Athina Markou and her colleagues used this experimental technique, known as intracranial self-stimulation, to assess animals' discomfort from nicotine withdrawal and evaluate...
NIDA Addresses Disparities in the Impact of Drug Abuse and Addiction
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NIDA has developed a Health Disparities Initiative that will help uncover the reasons why minority populations incur serious health and social problems related to drug abuse at far higher rates...
Depression Elevates Suicide Risk in Substance-Abusing Adolescents
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A recent NIDA-funded study highlights the need for substance abuse counselors to be aware of depression and suicide risk in their adolescent patients. Drs. Thomas Kelly, Duncan Clark, and colleagues...
Teen Drug Abuse Continues Its Three-Year Decline
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Illicit drug abuse among the Nation's youth declined by almost 7 percent from 2003 to 2004, continuing an encouraging trend that began in 2001. At the same time, the latest...
Drug Abuse Treatment in Adolescents Should Address Co-Occurring Mental Health Problems
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Adolescent substance abuse patients with co-occurring emotional and behavioral problems are more likely than peers without coexisting psychiatric conditions to relapse in the year following treatment, a NIDA-funded study has...
Study Suggests Cognitive Deficits in MDMA-Only Drug Abusers
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Stroop Test Assessed Mental Response in Abusers of MDMA. Heavy MDMA abusers were slower and made more errors on the Stroop,a test of attention and mental processing speed, than did...
Bulletin Board
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Eighth Annual PRISM Awards Honor Accurate Depiction of Drug, Alcohol Issues in Film, TV, Music Accurate depictions of drug and alcohol abuse in film, TV, and music were the focus...
MDMA May Reduce Gray Matter in Key Brain Regions
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A small study using a new imaging technique revealed an association between MDMA (Ecstasy) abuse and lower gray matter density in key brain structures that affect language, movement, and vital...
NIDA-Sponsored Conference Highlights Intensive Research Focus on Lipids
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Within each human cell, molecules called lipids serve as an energy reserve and as structural components of cell membranes. These molecules also do much more, researchers are learning. Lipids help...
Marijuana Abuse: Age of Initiation, Pleasure of Response Foreshadow Young Adult Outcomes
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A boy or girl who is smoking marijuana at 13 is likely to earn less money as a young adult than peers who aren't abusing the drug. An adolescent who...
Dopamine Enhancement Underlies a Toluene Behavioral Effect
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Overall drug abuse among teenagers has declined in the past several years, but inhalant abuse is on the rise. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) for 2002...
Confronting the Rise in Abuse of Prescription Drugs
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The misuse and abuse of prescription medications is a growing public health concern. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health...
Economists Offer Program for Costing Out Drug Abuse Treatment
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NIDA-supported economists are offering drug treatment program administrators a comprehensive program to estimate their costs. The Drug Abuse Treatment Cost Analysis Program (DATCAP) features materials and a method to capture...
NIDA's Latest Research Report Focuses on MDMA (Ecstasy) Abuse
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The most recent issue of NIDA's Research Report Series highlights the current science on 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, or "Ecstasy"). The series is part of NIDA's continuing effort to provide science-based information...
Long-Term Abstinence Brings Partial Recovery from Methamphetamine Damage
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Methamphetamine abusers who remain abstinent for 9 months or longer show modest improvement in performance on some tests of motor skill and memory. They also appear to recover from some...
Smoking Exposure In Utero Increases Risk of Later Addiction
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An expectant mother's smoking during pregnancy does not increase the likelihood that her child will later try smoking or become a regular smoker. Her pack-a-day smoking, however, doubles the risk...
Bulletin Board
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2003 Survey Reveals Increase in Prescription Drug Abuse, Sharp Drop in Abuse of Hallucinogens The annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), released in September 2004, indicates that...
Mood Disorders in Methamphetamine Abusers Linked to Changes in Brain Metabolism
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Impaired metabolism in one part of the brain, the striatum, may be the culprit in methamphetamine-linked mood disturbances. In a study similar to the one reported in the accompanying article...
Sigma Antagonists: Potential Cocaine Medications With Novel Activity
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Co-administration of Rimcazole With Cocaine Blocks Locomotor Stimulation in Mice. When administered with cocaine, rimcazole blocked the stimulant effects of cocaine on locomotor activity. Investigators in NIDA's Intramural Research Program...