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.
NIDA's Nicotine Research Featured at World Tobacco Conference
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More than 4,000 attendees at the 11th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health heard NIDA Director Dr. Alan I. Leshner and NIDA-supported researchers from the United States and Canada describe...
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New Leader Named for NIDA's Neuroscience and Behavioral Research Division Dr. Glen R. Hanson Dr. Glen R. Hanson is the new director of NIDA's Division of Neuroscience and Behavioral Research...
CTN Approves Second Set of Treatment Research Concepts
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Even as the first seven drug abuse treatment research protocols are being implemented in community treatment programs throughout NIDA's National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network (CTN), researchers and practitioners...
International Conferences Focus on NIDA's HIV/AIDS Research
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NIDA's research into the relationship between drug abuse and HIV/AIDS served as a focal point for two international meetings that preceded the 13th International AIDS Meeting in Durban, South Africa...
Eight New Regional Research Sites Added to Clinical Trials Network
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The expansion more than doubles the size of the nationwide network. NIDA has added eight new regional research centers and their community treatment partners to its National Drug Abuse Treatment...
NIDA Sends Clinical Toolbox to 12,000 Drug Abuse Treatment Providers
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NIDA has mailed the new " Clinical Toolbox: Science-Based Materials For Drug Abuse Treatment Providers" to 12,000 treatment providers across the Nation. The Toolbox was developed to respond to the...
Cue-Induced Craving Linked to Brain Regions Involved in Decisionmaking and Behavior
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The brains of rats injected with saline or morphine in a test environment were examined after the animals were returned to the test environment but not injected. Increased levels of...
Update on Nicotine Addiction And Tobacco Research
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What makes nicotine addictive? Why do some children decide to smoke, while others never light up? What makes quitting smoking so difficult, and how can we make it easier? NIDA-funded...
New Approach Promises Relief for Chronic Pain
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Nerve cells with substance P receptors in the spinal cord transmit chronic pain signals to the brain. Image A shows nerve cells with substance P receptors illuminated (arrow) near the...
Nicotine Craving and Heavy Smoking May Contribute to Increased Use of Cocaine and Heroin
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People who abuse drugs are also likely to be cigarette smokers. More than two-thirds of drug abusers are regular tobacco smokers, a rate more than double that of the rest...
NIDA-Funded Researchers Identify Compound That Inhibits Nicotine Metabolism, Decreases Urge to Smoke
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Methoxsalen inhibits the normal liver metabolism of nicotine, and the resulting higher concentration of nicotine in the blood reduces a smoker's desire to smoke. Horizontal bars indicate average blood nicotine...
NIDA's Nicotine Research Provides Scientific Approaches To Combat a Deadly Addiction
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Nicotine addiction takes a terrible toll on American health. More than 430,000 people die in this country each year from smoking-related causes, and the annual cost of these preventable illnesses-in...
Nicotine Vaccine Moves Toward Clinical Trials
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A new vaccine that prevents nicotine from reaching the brains of rats may offer hope for smokers trying to break their addiction. The compound, called NicVAX, may even prove useful...
NIDA Launches National Media Campaign to Prevent Drug Abuse by Youth
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The theme of NIDA's newest national media campaign is "Keep your brain healthy. Don't use drugs." The campaign features radio and television announcements with blunt messages that warn young people...
Drug Abuse and Conduct Disorder Linked to Maternal Smoking During Pregnancy
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Researchers at Columbia University in New York City have found new evidence that children whose mothers smoke during pregnancy are at much greater risk than other children for drug abuse...
Cues Trigger Craving
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To evaluate the impact of the urge to smoke on craving for other drugs, Dr. Stephen Heishman and his colleagues asked participants to rate their desires for tobacco and other...
New Public Service Announcements Aimed at Youth and Their Parents
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"Choice," immediately below, and "Bright" are two public service announcements featured in NIDA's new campaign titled " Keep your brain healthy. Don't use drugs." All three announcements are available in...
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NIDA Grantee Wins Biological Society Award Dr. Ming T. Tsuang Dr. Ming T. Tsuang, a NIDA-supported researcher at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has won the Society of Biological Psychiatry's...
Boys and Girls Encounter Different Drug Offers, Use Different Refusal Strategies
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NIDA-funded researchers at the Arizona State University in Phoenix found that among 12-year-olds who have been offered drugs, boys are most likely to have received those offers from other males...
New Clinical Guidelines Describe Proven Treatments for Nicotine Addiction
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The U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. David Satcher, has released a new set of guidelines for primary care practitioners, "Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence: A Clinical Practice Guideline." The guidelines, released...
Gender Differences in Prevalence of Drug Abuse Traced to Opportunities to Use
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Males are more likely than females to abuse drugs. According to the 1999 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA)-an annual Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration survey of...
Gender Differences in Drug Abuse Risks and Treatment
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Over the past few years NIDA has made a major research commitment to identifying and understanding differences in the ways that women and men-or girls and boys-are first exposed to...
NIDA Supports Research on Ethical Issues in Drug Abuse and HIV/AIDS Studies
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NIDA's Center on AIDS and Other Medical Consequences of Drug Abuse (CAMCODA) is encouraging research applicants in the area of drug abuse and HIV/AIDS to respond to a recent NIH-wide...
Study Provides Additional Evidence That High Steroid Doses Elicit Psychiatric Symptoms in Some Men
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NIDA-supported research has produced additional evidence that high doses of anabolic-androgenic steroids can produce aggressive symptoms in some men. Dr. Harrison Pope and his colleagues at McLean Hospital in Belmont...
Treating the Brain in Drug Abuse
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Remarkable research and technological advances in the past two decades have proved that brain disruption and damage play central roles in the consequences of drug abuse and addiction. Knowing the...
Methamphetamine Brain Damage in Mice More Extensive Than Previously Thought
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NIDA researchers have found that, when it comes to brain cells, "speed" actually does kill. "Speed" is a street name for methamphetamine, a powerfully addictive stimulant. Previous research had shown...
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Buprenorphine Development Team Honored Members of the buprenorphine development team in NIDA's Division of Treatment Research and Development with Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala. From left to...
NIDA Pursues Many Approaches to Reversing Methamphetamine's Neurotoxic Effects
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NIDA-supported scientists are pursuing a number of promising approaches to blocking or reversing some of the brain damage wreaked by chronic abuse of methamphetamine. Research has shown that methamphetamine can...
Conference Focuses on Linked Issues of Drug Abuse, HIV, and Hepatitis C
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The intricate relationships between the epidemics of drug abuse, HIV/AIDS, and hepatitis C were the focus of discussion at "Drug Use, HIV, and Hepatitis: Bringing It All Together," a conference...
NIDA's Report Card Details Research Initiatives, Resources, and Accomplishments
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As part of the program at each NIDA Constituent Conference, representatives of national groups in the field of drug abuse recommend to NIDA staff the research, outreach, and collaborative activities...
Cocaine, Marijuana, and Heroin Abuse Up, Methamphetamine Abuse Down
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Many CEWG cities reported statistically significant increases from 1997 to 1998 in hospital emergency department (ED) visits due to cocaine, heroin, and marijuana use. However, methamphetamine- related ED visits declined...
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NIDA Researcher Wins Endowed Chair at Yale Dr. Edward H. Kaplan, a NIDA-funded investigator, professor of public health at the Yale University Medical School, and professor of management sciences at...
PRISM Awards Commend Accuracy in Drug-Issue Entertainment Programming
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Actress Kathy Baker, winner of the PRISM Heritage Award, is joined by MTV talk show host Dr. Drew Pinsky and NIDA Director Dr. Alan I. Leshner at the PRISM Awards...
NIDA Constituents Discuss Putting Drug Abuse Research to Use
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Participants at NIDA's Constituent Conference included (clockwise from upper left): William Dewey, American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics; Angela Sharpe, Consortium of Social Science Associations; David Rosenbloom, Join Together...
NIDA Reaches Out to the Nation
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At the Seattle Town Meeting, NIDA Director Dr. Alan I. Leshner (right) is joined by (left to right) Michael Kreidler, Region 10 administrator for the Department of Health and Human...
Antibody May Treat PCP Overdose and Abuse, Also Block Prenatal Harm
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A monoclonal antibody being developed by NIDA-supported scientists may treat PCP (phencyclidine) overdose and abuse and also may block or reduce the fetal brain damage that can result from prenatal...
NIDA's Epidemiological Compasses
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Epidemiology is the science of identifying trends and patterns in the occurrence of health problems. Epidemiological studies advance NIDA's mission by gauging the scope and nature of the Nation's drug...
NIDA Manual Shows Managers How to Analyze Their Substance Abuse Treatment Programs
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A new NIDA resource provides substance abuse treatment program managers with tools to calculate the costs of their programs and to investigate the relationship between these costs and various treatment...
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Four New Members Join National Advisory Council NIDA's National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse meets three times each year to evaluate applications for NIDA research grants, review recent research findings...
Ketamine, PCP, and Alcohol Trigger Widespread Cell Death in the Brains of Developing Rats
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NIDA-supported study has shown that prenatal exposure to drugs such as phencyclidine (PCP), ketamine, and alcohol causes widespread damage to the developing rat brain. Though conducted with animals, the study...
NIDA Initiative Targets Increasing Teen Use of Anabolic Steroids
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As part of NIDA's anabolic steroids initiative, the Institute has distributed more than 500,000 "art" cards-colorful postcards with messages about the harmful effects of steroid abuse-in gyms, restaurants, bookstores, and...
NIDA's Strategic Plan for 2000-2005
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Now is a time of extraordinary opportunity in drug abuse science. Thanks to the exemplary research achievements of recent decades, we have advanced from a rudimentary understanding of drug abuse...
Evidence Builds That Genes Influence Cigarette Smoking
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More than one in four Americans older than 17 regularly smokes cigarettes despite increasing public awareness of tobacco's severe health risks. Some start younger than others and, among those who...
Genetic Engineering Studies May Lead to Development of More Effective Pain Relievers
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Morphine and related compounds, called opiates, are among the most effective pain-relieving medications currently available. If administered properly, they rarely produce addiction. However, patients who take these medications for more...
About Anabolic Steroid Abuse
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NIDA has issued an updated research report that summarizes the latest scientific information on anabolic steroids. The eight-page Research Report, Anabolic Steroid Abuse , is part of a nationwide education...
Brain Imaging Studies Show Long-Term Damage from Methamphetamine Abuse
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Methamphetamine-commonly known as "speed," "meth," "ice," or "crystal"-is a powerfully addictive stimulant that acts on the central nervous system to produce increased wakefulness and physical activity as well as irritability...
Research Eases Concerns About Use of Opioids to Relieve Pain
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Many physicians limit their use of powerful opioid pain medications because they think that patients may become addicted to them. Now, accumulating evidence from a series of NIDA-funded studies indicates...
Overall Teen Drug Use Stays Level, Use of MDMA and Steroids Increases
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Drug use among the Nation's adolescents generally held steady in 1999 with the exception of MDMA, or "ecstasy," and steroids, according to the most recent Monitoring the Future study. This...
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Recovery Harder for Addicts Who Start Young A NIDA-funded study has demonstrated that the relapse rate for heroin addicts increases with time and that the probability of long-run abstinence depends...
Six Sites Chosen to Launch NIDA Clinical Trials Network
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NIDA has taken an important step towards improving drug abuse treatment in the United States. The Institute has awarded a total of $66 million in grants to six university research...
Some Cocaine Abusers Fare Better With Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, Others With 12-Step Programs
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New evidence has been found in support of the hypothesis that a cocaine abuser's personal characteristics affect what kind of treatment will work best to reduce his or her drug...
A Club Drug Alert
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For several years, NIDA monitoring systems have registered a nationwide pattern of drug use centered on all-night party and "rave" dance clubs and bars. The drugs reported in these scenes...
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Teen Alternative to Cigarettes Has Higher Concentrations of Nicotine Although hand-rolled cigarettes from India, called bidis (pronounced "beedees"), are an increasingly popular alternative to conventional cigarettes among teens in the...
The Next Step in Disseminating Proven Prevention Programs?
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Can drug abuse prevention researchers team up with existing national, State, and local service delivery systems to accelerate the implementation of research-based drug abuse prevention programs in communities throughout the...
What Are Club Drugs?
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MDMA (methylenedioxymethamphetamine): Ecstasy, X, XTC, Adam A stimulant similar to methamphetamine, MDMA is usually taken orally as a tablet. It causes increased heart rate and blood pressure, and may lead...
Addressing the Medical Consequences of Drug Abuse
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When people hear the words "consequences of drug abuse," they usually think of addiction, crime, and other social disruptions. However, the most immediate, extensive, and long-lasting problems caused by drug...
Developing Successful Drug Abuse Prevention Programs
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NIDA's research over the past 25 years has identified many factors that put young people at risk for drug abuse, and has also identified protective factors that decrease the likelihood...
Nicotine Medication Also Reduces Craving in Cocaine Addicts
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Craving, the almost irresistible urge to use drugs, is one of the most vexing problems associated with drug addiction. Craving is the result of changes that drugs cause in the...
Potential Cocaine Medications Show Effectiveness Against Psychosis, Seizures
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Synthetic compounds that have shown promise for treating cocaine addiction also may be useful for treating phencyclidine (PCP)-induced psychotic reactions, schizophrenia, and cocaine-induced seizures and death, researchers have found. The...
Poster Presentations by NIDA Investigators
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Dr. Frederick Altice discusses his poster with NIDA Director, Dr. Alan I. Leshner. Dr. Leslie Amass of the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver described preliminary results of...
Marijuana-Like Compound in Womb May Influence Early Pregnancy
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Ever since scientists began discovering in the early 1990s that marijuana-like compounds are normally produced in various parts of the , they have been investigating the function of these compounds...
NIDA Symposium Spotlights 25 Years of Drug Abuse Research
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NIDA's year-long celebration of the Institute's 25-year history of research culminated on September 29 with a symposium at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. The event highlighted NIDA's...
Facts About Drug Abuse and Hepatitis C
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What is Hepatitis C? Hepatitis C, a viral disease that destroys liver cells, is the most common blood-borne infection in the United States. Approximately 36,000 new cases of acute hepatitis...
Evidence Accumulates That Long-Term Marijuana Users Experience Withdrawal
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Laboratory studies have shown that animals exhibit symptoms of drug withdrawal after cessation of prolonged marijuana administration. Some human studies have also demonstrated withdrawal symptoms such as irritability, stomach pain...
NIDA Launches Initiative to Combat Club Drugs
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Responding to the alarming recent rise in use of club drugs, NIDA has initiated a broad-based public initiative to inform and educate teens, young adults, parents, and communities about the...
NIDA Joins NCI, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation To Launch Tobacco Research Centers
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Percentages of Adults* Who Smoke Cigarettes. Although the prevalence of adult cigarette smokers is high, the numbers reflect only one piece of the problem. NIDA's new research centers will seek...
Putting Science-Based Drug Abuse Prevention Programs to Work in Communities
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NIDA-supported studies are defining ways to get scientifically tested drug abuse prevention programs applied in communities across the Nation. This complex line of research is developing new partnerships and strategies...
Adding More Counseling Sessions and 12-Step Programs Can Boost Drug Abuse Treatment Effectiveness
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Drug abuse treatment programs can significantly increase the likelihood that patients will stay in treatment and remain abstinent by offering them more group and individual counseling opportunities and encouraging them...
Among Drug Users, Peers Can Help Spread the Word About AIDS Prevention
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In traditional AIDS prevention programs, professional outreach workers inform injecting drug users (IDUs) about drug-related and sexual behaviors that can lead to HIV infection. NIDA-supported research is demonstrating that recruiting...
High-Dose Methadone Improves Treatment Outcomes
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Methadone has been used effectively for more than 30 years as a treatment for heroin addiction. The medication blocks heroin's narcotic effects without creating a drug "high," eliminates withdrawal symptoms...
NIDA Science Education Program Reaches Out to Young Rural Women
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A program developed by NIDA-supported researchers at the University of Kentucky in Lexington has begun introducing young women from rural Appalachia to the excitement of hands-on science-and to the possibility...
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Dr. Lula Beatty Commended by Historically Black Colleges Dr. Lula Beatty, NIDA's chief of special populations, was honored with an "Enduring Contributions in the Interest of Science Award" at the...
Studying Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention Strategies
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In the early 1980s, NIDA began to encourage research on comprehensive drug abuse prevention programs that involve many components of a community. The theory behind this approach is that children...
NIDA Guide Details Research-Based Principles of Drug Addiction Treatment
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As part of a broad, science-based campaign to help increase the quality and effectiveness of drug abuse treatment throughout the United States, NIDA has issued the first-ever research-based guide to...
Thirteen Principles of Effective Drug Addiction Treatment
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More than two decades of scientific research have yielded a set of fundamental principles that characterize effective drug abuse treatment. These 13 principles, which are detailed in NIDA's new research-based...
Combining Drug Counseling Methods Proves Effective in Treating Cocaine Addiction
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NIDA's research into treatments for cocaine abuse has identified a variety of effective treatments ranging from group drug counseling to individualized psychotherapies. In a NIDA-funded clinical trial investigating the efficacy...
The State of the Art in Drug Addiction Treatment
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NIDA's recent publication, Principles of Drug Addiction Treatment: A Research-based Guide, distills the lessons of 25 years of scientific investigation. Principles is written for health care providers, to stimulate their...
New NIDA Clinic Tests Therapies to Help Teens Quit Smoking
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NIDA's Intramural Research Program (IRP) recently opened a new Teen Tobacco Addiction Treatment Research Clinic at the Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore. At the clinic, researchers will evaluate promising therapies...
"Ecstasy" Damages the Brain and Impairs Memory in Humans
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A NIDA-supported study has provided the first direct evidence that chronic use of MDMA, popularly known as "ecstasy," causes brain damage in people. Using advanced brain imaging techniques, the study...
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NIDA Director Receives Honorary Degree NIDA Director Dr. Alan I. Leshner has received an honorary doctorate of science from his alma mater, Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. At...
Facts About MDMA (Ecstasy)
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MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine) has a chemical structure similar to the stimulant methamphetamine and the hallucinogen mescaline and can produce both stimulant and psychedelic effects. Reportedly, MDMA's psychedelic effects are milder than...
Medications Reduce Incidence of Substance Abuse Among ADHD Patients
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Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) causes difficulties in paying attention, keeping still, and suppressing impulsive behaviors. It can lead to problems in school and on the job and create tensions with family...
Drug Abuse and Mental Disorders: Comorbidity is Reality
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A quarter century of basic and clinical research has provided us with a substantial number of scientifically developed and tested pharmacological and behavioral techniques for treating drug abuse and addiction...
Targeting Methamphetamine Abuse
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While the popularity of methamphetamine, a powerful and highly addictive stimulant, has waxed and waned over the years, NIDA-supported scientific research has continued to serve as the basis for the...
Twin Studies Help Define the Role of Genes in Vulnerability to Drug Abuse
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Some individuals who use drugs become drug abusers - they continue taking drugs even though doing so causes serious problems in their lives. Others avoid abuse or addiction. By studying...
Educating Children and Adults About Drug Abuse and Science
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Eight years ago, NIDA funded the production of a video by a group of middle school students in Maryland that would answer their questions about drug abuse and the brain...
NIDA Studies Clarify Developmental Effects of Prenatal Cocaine Exposure
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NIDA-funded studies have demonstrated that cocaine can reach into the womb and disrupt the embryonic development of crucial neurological systems in animals, but the effects of prenatal cocaine exposure on...
NIDA Joins Education Activities for Brain Awareness Week
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In celebration of Brain Awareness Week last March, NIDA and 10 other institutes of the National Institutes of Health sponsored a variety of educational activities in Washington, D.C. Brain Awareness...
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NIDA Scientist Granted Honorary Degree by Italian University Dr. Roy Wise Dr. Roy Wise of NIDA's Intramural Research Program in Baltimore was awarded an honorary doctorate in medicine by the...
New Report Provides Information on Cocaine Abuse and Treatment
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To help inform the public about the harmful effects of cocaine abuse and aid in prevention and treatment efforts, NIDA has issued a new Research Report, "Cocaine Abuse and Addiction."...
Research Shows Effects of Prenatal Cocaine Exposure Are Subtle But Significant
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There is a traditional belief in the Aymara community of Peru and Bolivia that if a woman sees a corpse during pregnancy, her baby is likely to be sickly. The...
Atlanta Town Meeting: A Vital Exchange of Drug Abuse Information
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NIDA's biggest-ever Town Meeting drew 450 Georgia civic leaders, policymakers, drug abuse prevention and treatment professionals, law enforcement personnel, and concerned citizens to Atlanta in May. The diverse crowd came...
Ethnic Identification and Cultural Ties May Help Prevent Drug Use
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Among Puerto Ricans, African Americans, and Asians, cultural influences and ethnic identification may significantly influence drug use. Studies conducted by NIDA researchers in New York City suggest that Puerto Rican...
California Project Shows Students How Real Science Works
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"As a DART team, we learned quite a bit about real scientific research that will prove to be invaluable in the future." - From a students' report on a study...
Tracking Trends in Drug Abuse
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NIDA's Community Epidemiology Work Group (CEWG) was established in 1976 to analyze and report on current patterns and developing trends in drug abuse. Using data ranging from wide-scale to street-level...
Heroin Snorters Risk Transition to Injection Drug Use and Infectious Disease
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"This is the era of AIDS, and everyone knows about the risks from needles. When you sniff, you don't have to worry about AIDS." - Noninjecting heroin user interviewed in...
NIDA Advisory Council Comings and Goings
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NIDA Director Dr. Alan I. Leshner presents a certificate of appreciation to Dr. Reese Jones for his service on the NIDA National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse. Dr. June Osborn...
Blood-borne Medications Could Intercept Drugs Before They Reach the Brain
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The damage done by cocaine and other drugs of abuse takes place among neurons deep in the brain, but the drugs are transported to these nerve cells by the blood...
Drug Abuse Research Helps Curtail the Spread of Deadly Infectious Diseases
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Drug abuse plays a central role in the spread of infectious diseases that threaten our Nation's health. Injection drug use now accounts for about one-third of all new cases of...
Infectious Diseases and Drug Abuse
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Drug abuse involves health risks that often are as dangerous as the physiological effects of the drugs themselves. Injecting drug users (IDUs) are at high risk for direct exposure to...