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Addiction News
Six-month implant newest option to treat addiction amid opioid crisis
Canadians addicted to opioids may be eligible for an implant that provides an ongoing low dose of medication for six months, with the potential for...
No letup in crackdown on vaping by FDA after Gottlieb resigns
The White House supports a Food and Drug Administration effort to crack down on youth vaping and plans more regulations on tobacco products despite the departure...
FDA calls Walgreens' sale of tobacco to minors ‘disturbing’
The US Food and Drug Administration says Walgreens sells more tobacco products to minors than any other pharmacy chain. Now the agency wants to meet with...
Legal age to buy cigarettes in UK should rise from 18 to 21, say MPs
The legal smoking age in Britain should be increased to 21 according to MPs who are calling for a crackdown on tobacco giants and cigarette...
Exploding e-cigarette kills 24-year-old Texas man
An exploding vaporiser pen resulted in the death of a 24-year-old Texas man, a post-mortem examination has ruled, BBC News reports. The pen's battery blew up when...
Decisive plan needed to help addicts in South Africa
While there are programmes to combat drug and alcohol use in South Africa, psychologist Raksha Singh says a major problem is lack of a...
‘Help me, I am a sex addict’ – Cape Town’s Porn Pastor
Cape Town’s former Common Ground Church youth leader nicknamed the ‘Porn Pastor’ was sodomised by the family gardener from about the age of three or four and...
European Commission compares e-cigarettes to ‘poison’
The European Commission is ‘reluctant’ to sit with the tobacco industry at the same table to discuss novel tobacco products such as e-cigarettes, a high-ranking EU...
Small percentage of tobacco funds used to fight cancer
Twenty years ago, Georgia and 45 other US states reached an agreement with tobacco companies that settled all future claims against the firms about smoking....
Hookah smoking gains popularity amid evidence of health risks
While cigarette smoking has hit an all-time low, another form of tobacco use is rising in popularity – hookah smoking – and US researchers...
Health Canada is 'asleep at the switch' regarding teen vaping – Doctor
An expert on smoking cessation says Health Canada is doing little to stop the teen vaping epidemic, reports The Canadian Press. “This is an issue...
Health Canada moves to restrict vape ads targeting youth
Health Canada is proposing new restrictions on advertising vaping products and e-cigarettes to minors, citing concerns about the products’ rising popularity among teens, reports Leslie...
Juul, Altria are reneging on promise to combat teen vaping – FDA
Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb is upping the pressure on Juul and Marlboro-maker Altria, accusing executives of reneging on promises they made...
FDA targets Walgreens as biggest youth tobacco sale violator
United States health officials plan to ask for a meeting with top management from Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc to discuss what they said was a...
India may revise plans to restrict online promotion of e-cigarettes
India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology is likely to walk back the stance on vaping laid out as part of its proposed rules for policing...
Civil society wants ban on tobacco sales to minors enforced
Civil society organisations working on tobacco control in Nigeria have called for firm enforcement of the National Tobacco Act, which prohibits the sale of...
Vaping is 95% less harmful than smoking – Public Health England
The British government is launching a new campaign to try to convince the smokers that vaping is not as harmful as smoking and is...
Cannabis now twice as strong as it was 11 years ago, study says
The strength of cannabis has doubled across Europe in the last 11 years, according to the first study to track changes in the drug across the continent,...
Dark web dealers voluntarily ban deadly fentanyl
Major dark web drug suppliers have started to voluntarily ban the synthetic opioid fentanyl because it is too dangerous, the UK National Crime Agency has...
Amid youth vaping ‘epidemic’, adolescent smoking hits record low
Results from the Monitoring the Future Study, released last month, show a jump in vaping by teenagers similar to the one indicated by National Youth...
Americans struggle to access medication to treat opioid addiction
Treating opioid addiction with other drugs is considered essential to helping Americans claw their way back from the throes of dependence, writes Laura Kelley...
Smoking shisha linked to diabetes and obesity, study finds
Smoking shisha ‘significantly increases’ the risk of users developing diabetes and obesity, a major study has revealed for the first time, writes Yohannes Louw for The...
China resumes game approvals after freeze over addiction fears
China has resumed approving games for release, following a halt to the process that was put in place last year over fears that video...
Three Indian ministries want regulations to control e-cigarettes
Various forms of e-cigarettes face growing resistance from the government in their efforts to break into the Indian market, writes Anoo Bhuvan for The Wire. At...
One out of nine Koreans smoke e-cigarettes
One out of nine Koreans smoke heat-not-burn (HNB) cigarettes, showing a viral proliferation in one of the world’s most heavily smoking countries in just 17 months...
Krokodil – How ‘flesh-eating zombie drug’ is causing a global crisis
Desomorphine has been in the news lately. Never heard of it? That’s quite possible. But you may well have heard its street name: ‘Krokodil’. It’s...
Politically charged European Court of Justice rules for continued ban on snus
The European Court of Justice on 22 November decided against overturning the European Union-wide ban on the smokeless tobacco snus. The ruling displays a political...
Tax on cigarettes should be 70% higher, SA anti-smoking council says
The National Council Against Smoking (NCAS) is lobbying the government in South Africa to increase the tax on cigarettes by 70%, writes Zimasa Matiwane for Business...
Lean – South Africa’s codeine addiction crisis
An estimated 600,000 people in South Africa are addicted to the opiate codeine, often disguised in soft drinks and promoted by rappers and singers, writes Kim Harrisberg for Health...
Governments stub out moves to introduce cigarette alternatives in Asia
No health issue has the capacity to divide public opinions more than smoking, writes Casandra Wong for Yahoo News Singapore. Governments in Asia have been...
Florida sues drugstores Walgreens, CVS for alleged role in opioid crisis
Florida is suing the two largest drugstore chains in the United States – Walgreens and CVS – alleging they added to the state and...
All government buildings in India ordered to become tobacco free
The federal Health Ministry in India has directed all states to make government buildings and offices ‘tobacco free’ in order to protect public health, writes Neetu...
Mental health hospital admissions linked to cocaine use treble in 10 years
The number of hospital admissions for mental health disorders linked to cocaine use has almost trebled in England in the past decade, official figures...
FDA warns company for selling e-liquids that resemble kid-friendly foods
On 29 November the US Food and Drug Administration issued a warning letter to Electric Lotus LLC for selling nicotine-containing e-liquids used in e-cigarettes with labelling...
Marijuana legalisation threatens dogs’ collars
Drug-sniffing dogs that are trained to detect marijuana are complicating searches where pot has been legalised. That’s forcing some into early retirement, writes Stacy...
University hires professor to study cannabis as treatment for opioid addiction
More than 1,100 people have died from opioid overdoses in Canada this year. To help combat the crisis, the University of British Columbia wants to take a...
Trump signs sweeping opioid bill with vow to end drug addiction 'scourge'
Almost a year after declaring the opioid epidemica public health emergency, President Donald Trump on 24 October signed into law a sweeping legislative package...
Tobacco stocks drop over concerns of strict limits on cigarette nicotine
British American Tobacco Plc and Imperial Brands Plc led cigarette stocks lower on concern that the US Food and Drug Administration plans to propose strict limits...
Big Tobacco cries foul after hardline UN tobacco control treaty
Big Tobacco companies moved to counter the hard line taken by a World Health Organization global tobacco control treaty, including its decision that new ‘vaping’ products...
'Desperate crisis' as addiction services reach fewer people in England
The number of people in England hooked on drink or drugs who are being treated for their addiction is falling, prompting claims of a...