HomeAddiction News
Addiction News
Bill would give doctors greater freedom to prescribe addiction treatments
Fewer doctors would have to wait for permission to prescribe addiction treatment drugs under new, bipartisan legislation unveiled in mid-November by two US Congress lawmakers on...
US shelves its plan to sharply cut nicotine in cigarettes
US regulators are hitting the brakes on plans to force tobacco companies to drastically reduce addictive nicotine in cigarettes, retreating on an ambitious public health...
Dramatic increase in vaping among Canadian high school students
Nearly one-third of high school students in Alberta and Quebec and one in four in Ontario say they have vaped in the past month,...
Philippines' Duterte will ban e-cigarettes, threatens to arrest vapers
The use and importation of electronic cigarettes will soon be outlawed in the Philippines, according to President Rodrigo Duterte. He criticised vaping devices at a...
Irish smoking levels falling faster than increases in e-cigarette use
The number of people taking up e-cigarettes is lower than the number who have quit smoking in recent years, new figures show, reports Jack...
New York’s smoking age went up this month
Adults under 21 won't be able to buy vape pods or a pack of smokes in New York state, Governor Andrew Cuomo's office reminded...
Experts push for legal regulation of drugs in South Africa
The war on drugs has done more harm than good and must be replaced by legal regulation, say eminent doctors at the helm of...
UK vapers top 3.6 million – half as many as smoke – says study
The number of people vaping in the United Kingdom has reached 3.6 million – about half the number of smokers – figures from Action on Smoking and...
Pause in opioid litigation against Purdue Pharma and Sacklers
Citing mounting costs of litigation that are siphoning funds that could otherwise go to abate the opioid crisis, a bankruptcy judge on 11 October...
Grading cannabis strength ‘will improve mental health of users’
Standard units for grading the potency of cannabis – similar to those already used for alcohol – would result in significant improvements in the...
Cannabis extract may work as a treatment for cannabis addiction
For people who are addicted to cannabis, one treatment option may – paradoxically – be to take pills containing an extract of cannabis, writes...
Drug addicts to be given free heroin to stop them committing crimes
Drug addicts will be given free heroin to stop them committing crimes as part of a radical new trial by Britain’s Cleveland Police, writes Tom...
CDC warns of dangers of nicotine salts in Juul in e-cigarettes
A top US health official told lawmakers on 24 September that e-cigarette market leader Juul uses nicotine salts in its vaping devices, which can lead to...
Timing of Iqos tobacco device launch in US couldn’t be better
Iqos isn’t a vaping device or a cigarette. It heats tobacco, but doesn’t burn it, and is designed to give users the same rush...
Death could be first in US linked to vaping, officials say
Health officials are reporting what could be America’s first death linked to vaping, writes Associated Press in The Guardian. There are also reports of nearly...
Johnson & Johnson ordered to pay $572 million for opioid crisis
A US judge on Monday found Johnson & Johnson responsible for fuelling Oklahoma’s opioid crisis, ordering the company to pay $572 million to remedy the devastation wrought...
Sacklers would lose Purdue Pharma, $3 billion in opioid settlement
The Sackler family would give up ownership of Purdue Pharma, the company blamed for much of the US opioid epidemic, and pay $3 billion of...
Teen use of marijuana 'concentrates' raise addiction concerns
Wax. Honey oil. Budder. Shatter. Dabs. Black glass. These are some of the names given to extremely potent marijuana concentrates that a startling number of...
Tobacco industry opposes South African laws to curb smoking
The South African government is under pressure to scrap proposed new tobacco laws meant to curb smoking, among other goals, writes Bekezela Phakathi for Business Day....
Easing privacy rules proposed to improve addiction treatment
The Trump administration proposed to ease privacy rules governing addiction treatment on 22 August in an effort to give doctors access to key information about...
Experts urge India medics not to recommend banning e-cigs
More than 60 specialists in nicotine, science and medicine have urged the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to reconsider its recommendation to prohibit e-cigarettes, citing a critical...
Altria, Philip Morris consider reuniting for post-cigarette future
Tobacco may be on the verge of its biggest-ever deal, and it’s not about cigarettes, reports Bloomberg in Business Maverick. Rather, more than 10 years after...
Italy wants to send phone-addicted teenagers to rehab
A politician in Italy submitted a bill in late July that is intended to curb what she perceives as the rising threat of ‘phone addiction’ among...
Google feature can help fight Android app addiction
If phone addicts struggle with apps sucking up too much time, they can outsource some self-discipline thanks to a new Android app, writes Katie...
Opioid painkillers to carry prominent addiction warnings in UK
All opioid medicines in the United Kingdom will have to carry prominent addiction warnings to protect people 'from the darker side of pain killers', Health Secretary Matt...
Germany is one of the world’s most addicted societies – Report
Although alcohol and tobacco consumption have both dropped, Germans remain among the leading consumers in the developed world, reports DW. Authorities are also worried...
There are risks associated with recreational dagga, SA company says
People who drive under the influence of marijuana double their risk of being in a car crash and one in 10 daily marijuana users become...
How big data is fighting against gambling addiction
Technological evolutions have revolutionised the gambling industry and one upshot has been an increase in gambling addiction, writes Kayla Matthews for betanews. By identifying...
Japan fights gambling addiction ahead of casino openings
Japan’s cabinet last month approved a plan to limit customers' access and ban the installation of cash machines at betting establishments, as the government...
Canadian court upholds stay of legal proceedings against tobacco companies
An Ontario court has upheld an order that suspended legal proceedings against three major tobacco companies, rejecting arguments from lawyers representing Quebec smokers, writes Paola Loriggio...
1,000 Indian doctors appeal to prime minister to enforce e-cigarette ban
Over 1,000 doctors from 24 states and three union territories in India have urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to enforce a ban on electronic...
US senator works to raise tobacco purchasing age to 21, including for vaping
United States Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he wants Congress to raise the minimum age for tobacco products, including vaping devices, to 21 from...
New FDA head vows to continue crackdown on teen e-cigarette use
Acting United States Food and Drug Administration commissioner Ned Sharpless said on 16 April that the administration would press on with efforts launched by his...
East Africa renews efforts to arrest gambling addiction
East African governments have renewed efforts to bring the betting industry under strict control amid claims of tax evasion and fears of a growing gambling...
Thai controversy after French woman arrested, bribed, over e-cigarette
A network of e-cigarette users has called on the Thai government to quickly come up with appropriate solutions to regulate e-cigarettes in order to protect...
Chronic browsing saps South African students’ study time
At two universities in South Africa, students are losing sleep and studying less and the culprit is not hard partying – it’s internet addiction...
US teens using e-cigarettes surges to five million in one year
Roughly 4.9 million American teens used e-cigarettes in 2018, an increase of 1.5 million teens in just 12 months, the US Centers for Disease Control...
Quebec appeals court upholds landmark tobacco ruling
The Quebec Court of Appeal has upheld a landmark judgment that ordered three tobacco companies to pay billions of dollars in damages to Quebec...
Regular e-cigarette use remains low among young people in Britain
Regular vaping among young people remains low in Britain and has plateaued among adults, an independent report led by researchers at King’s College London and...
The latest vaping laws and regulations around the world
Laws and regulations regarding e-cigarettes around the world are changing. Recently, Hong Kong banned vapes, while the United Arab Emirates has started to allow sale...