Alcohol is responsible for over one in 20 of all deaths worldwide, according to the most recent edition of a World Health Organization (WHO) report that comes out every four years.
The devastation wrought by opioids in recent years is only part of a much larger drug crisis in the United States that stretches back four decades, according to a new study published Thursday in Science. Since 1979, the study found, the overdose death rate has been exponentially climbing, even as the deadly drugs of…
When humans take the drug MDMA, versions of which are known as molly or ecstasy, they commonly feel very happy, extraverted, and particularly interested in physical touch. A group of scientists recently wondered whether this drug might have a similar effect on other species—specifically, octopuses, which are seemingly…
A common antidepressant, sold under the brand name Prozac, could be helping some bacteria build resistance to antibiotics, suggests a new study from Australia. The study, published in Environment International, found that fluoxetine was capable of inducing antibiotic resistance in laboratory strains of Escherichia coli…
While recovering in hospital after a serious car accident, a 55-year-old woman from Missouri began to complain of nausea and a bad taste in her mouth. A subsequent oral examination revealed an alarming sight—the patient’s tongue had turned black and was covered in hair-like structures. But while this rare condition…
A commonly used painkiller might be too risky for people to keep taking, suggests a new study published this week in the BMJ. It found that people who use diclofenac, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), are more likely to come down with cardiovascular disease than people who take other NSAIDs or…
The ultimate goal of pain medicine—a powerful painkiller with few to no side effects, such as dependence or overdose—is still elusive. But a team of researchers from the Wake Forest School of Medicine in North Carolina believe they’ve come closer to reaching it. Their latest study, published Wednesday in Science…
There’s evidence of a connection between cannabis use and schizophrenia, but it’s unclear whether the drug leads to the disorder, or vice versa. A new study published Monday, which relies partly on genetic data from 23andMe volunteers, might offer a little clarity on that link. It found that people genetically at…
In what might be one of the least shocking revelations ever, the authors of two recently published papers accuse tobacco companies of further dishonesty (you know, besides decades-long attempts to downplay the addictiveness of cigarettes). They allege the tobacco industry has been scheming to take over an…
You don’t have to go far to find people, including doctors and researchers, who will argue that a little bit of alcohol can actually help you live a longer, healthier life. But an enormous new study published Thursday in the Lancet seems poised to rip that idea to shreds. Its findings not only reaffirm that alcohol is…
Our sewage reveals a lot more about us than what we ate over the weekend. Scientists at Murray State University in Kentucky have been studying sewer water for the past few years, hoping to pinpoint the level of drug use within local communities. Their latest research, presented this week at the American Chemical…
A life-saving but increasingly expensive treatment for severe allergic attacks is poised to become cheaper.
Not everyone who is close to death—or thinks they are, at least—has a “near-death experience.” But those who do often hallucinate that they leave their bodies, meet otherworldly beings, see bright flashes and tunnels of light, and more. Those who take the psychedelic drug dimethyltryptamine, or DMT— a compound found…
Synthetic cannabinoids are behind yet another mass overdose in the U.S. More than 70 people in New Haven, Connecticut suffered overdoses thought to be caused by the lab-made drug known as K2 within the span of a day, NBC Connecticut reported Wednesday. As a result, 72 people were sent to a hospital to be checked out,…
More people are dying from drug overdoses in the U.S. than ever before, according to a new preliminary report released Wednesday by the federal government. There were an estimated 72,287 drug overdose deaths last year, the report found, with the majority caused by opioids. The toll is yet another record high.
The State of New York is suing Purdue Pharma, one of the largest manufacturers and distributors of opioid painkillers, for what it says is the company’s role in driving the opioid crisis. On Tuesday morning, the attorney general’s office announced that it was filing a lawsuit against the pharmaceutical company for…
A recent survey suggests that some people struggling with opioid addiction might be turning to a tragically desperate method to get more prescription painkillers: Hurting their own pets. And veterinarians themselves may be abusing opioids or helping to illegally sell them.
People are increasingly turning to an unconventional drug to supplement their opioid addiction, suggests a new report published this week. And some are getting sick as a result. Since 2014, hundreds of people have apparently rung up their local poison control center in connection to tianeptine, an antidepressant not …
The devastating story of thalidomide—a once-popular morning sickness drug later found to cause terrible birth defects—might have a few more chapters left to it. A new study published this week in the journal eLife claims to have discovered how the drug was able to so brutally harm developing fetuses in the 1950s and…
Despite a growing awareness of the dangers and risks of opioid addiction among doctors and patients, the average amount of opioids prescribed to Americans over the past decade has barely budged, suggests a new study published Wednesday in The BMJ. But it’s difficult to know just how much this reality accounts for the…
