There are scores of reasons why people get hooked on drugs. But governments play a key role, too.
L’expertise universitaire, l’exigence journalistique
Addiction – Analyses
TV networks and streaming services are encouraging viewers to binge-watch their favorite shows. But findings from a recent study point to a potential public health concern.
Drugs, coffee, television – they can all be described as ‘addictive’. But when do they become a problem?
Be careful: many of us have tried at least two of them.
Engineered to exploit human compulsions, the Internet competes for our attention, while teaching us to need it.
Internet addiction has the same symptoms as any substance abuse disorder. Trying to stop its use can lead to moodiness or even depression.
Dopamine: a powerful substance that is much more than just a pleasure chemical.
Harm minimisation policies should seek to reduce the poker machine gambling of everyone, not just problem gamblers.
Why have the demographics of heroin use changed so much? For that, we can look to dramatic increase in prescriptions for opioid painkillers, such as Oxycontin or Vicodin.
The basic characteristics of pokies, combined with constantly refined game features, provide a stimulus to the brain that, in many cases, leads to a form of addiction.
Stigma toward heroin use might prevent a lot of people from using the drug, but these attitudes don’t help people who are dependent.
The way you take a drug affects how much of it gets to your brain, and how rapidly drug levels rise and fall.
Are addicts sick and helpless victims with little control over their own behaviour, or brazen criminals who deserve to be punished accordingly?
Fewer teenagers are taking up smoking, but one study has found a link between e-cigarettes and a potentially more dangerous addiction.
Are you a “carb craver” or “chocaholic”? We often use language associated with addiction to describe our relationships with food. But is it really possible to be addicted to certain types of food?
There’s a worrying lack of evidence for what works when it comes to drug treatment. And our addiction services are suffering as a result.
Australia’s drug regulator is looking into reclassifying codeine-based drugs as prescription-only. This is a good idea because the easy availability of these pinkillers is causing substantial harm.
The evidence is growing over the psychological effects of our screen time - when will the tipping point come?
People with bipolar use more cannabis than others with mental health problems, but what do they think about its effects?
Not only can they improve public health and decrease treatment costs, but they can also address one of the root causes of addiction: loneliness.
Cocaine is a popular recreational drug that makes users energetic, confident and talkative. It’s also highly addictive and dependence-producing. Australians rank fourth in the world in cocaine abuse rates…
You would be forgiven for thinking that Russell Brand, that radical left-winger and advocate of revolution, and Iain Duncan Smith, Conservative secretary of state for work and pensions, didn’t have anything…
In the 1930s, Harry J. Anslinger, the first head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, embarked on a fierce anti-marijuana campaign. Highlighted by the 1936 anti-marijuana film Reefer Madness – where marijuana…
Drug use is common, drug addiction is rare. About one adult in three will use an illegal drug in their lifetime and just under 3m people will do so this year in England and Wales alone. Most will suffer…
This week a rare thing happened – some members of the public felt sorry for a politician. Nigel Mills, a Conservative MP, was caught playing Candy Crush Saga (an idiotic but addictive computer game) during…