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Harm Reduction
Research probes ‘magic’ mushrooms to treat depression, addiction and PTSD
The first legal collection of native ‘magic’ mushrooms in Australia could provide medical options to treat severe depression, alcohol and drug addiction, post-traumatic stress...
Women find it more difficult to quit smoking than men — Large study
A study in France of more than 35,000 smokers has found that women smoke fewer cigarettes than men but are less likely to quit....
Link between secondhand marijuana smoke and respiratory infections in children
According to the most recent US national survey on Drug Use and Health, an estimated 58.8 million Americans aged 12 years or older had...
DoH: Cannabis Bill ‘a slippery slope’ because of potential harm to adolescents
South Africa’s national Department of Health says adolescents are at particular risk of mental health issues arising from using cannabis and that while the...
Minimum price for alcohol could save thousands of SA lives – Research
Another study into minimum pricing of alcohol in South Africa, published in BMJ Open, has found that a minimum unit price (MUP) of R10...
Deaths caused by alcohol at highest level since 2008 in Scotland
Alcohol-specific deaths in Scotland rose to their highest level in more than a decade in 2020, amid warnings that COVID-19 has undermined progress made...
Pfizer expands recall of anti-smoking drug Chantix
Drug company Pfizer has expanded its earlier recall of Chantix – Varenicline – tablets to include four additional lots, the United States Food and...
Non-invasive brain stimulation may reduce smoking
A systematic review of randomised controlled trials has found evidence that non-invasive brain stimulation may reduce smoking frequency – the number of cigarettes per...
SA’s 0% alcohol legislation – Threat of punishment won't reduce unsafe driving
A zero-tolerance drunk driving law is on the cards in the upcoming National Road Traffic Amendment Bill, writes Rhys Evans, MD at drug and...
Anti-vaping advice by World Health Organisation ‘risks lives of millions’
British experts have accused the World Health Organization of risking the lives of millions by urging governments to crack down on vaping, writes Kat...
England: Smoking responsible for twice as many cancers in deprived groups
Smoking is responsible for nearly twice as many cancer cases in lower income groups compared to higher income groups in England, according to new...
Smoking cessation treatment for patients with depression could save 203,000 US lives
A team of scientists estimates that providing patients with depression with the tools to quit smoking could save as many as 125,000 lives in...
Tobacco harm reduction – Patients before prejudices
To help the world’s 1.3 billion smokers, physicians must understand that it is unethical to withhold from patients information on tobacco harm reduction products...
Tobacco harm reduction – The stunning success of snus in Sweden
A powerful example of the harm reduction potential of alternative tobacco products comes from Sweden, where over the past 50 years men have switched...
Tobacco giant Philip Morris to stop selling cigarettes in UK within a decade
Tobacco giant Philip Morris International will stop selling cigarettes in Britain within the next 10 years. Chief executive Jacek Olczak told The Mail on Sunday...
Alcohol consumption linked to 4% of global cancer cases – WHO study
Alcohol consumption appeared linked to more than 740,000 new cancer diagnoses in 2020 – equivalent to 4% of cases worldwide – according to a...
Cannabis terpenes provide pain relief, contribute to ‘entourage effect’ – US study
Scientists at the University of Arizona in the United States have found that terpenes in cannabis – the part of the plant that provides...
Minimum unit price on alcohol could substantially reduce SA heavy drinking
University of Cape Town researchers have published findings from a study investigating the feasibility of a minimum unit price (MUP) on alcohol in South Africa,...
Novel study of high-potency cannabis shows some memory effects
After administering cognitive tests to participants who had used high-potency cannabis, researchers at Washington State University in the United States found no impact on...
Ban on cigarette sales fails to prevent smoking among young people
If you can’t buy cigarettes, you won’t start smoking – such is the thinking behind the ban on selling cigarettes to young people. But...
Unnatural deaths, alcohol bans and curfews during COVID-19 – SA study
Another research missile has been fired into the debate over the effectiveness of alcohol bans in reducing trauma admissions to hospitals in South Africa,...
Why marijuana can disqualify a runner from the Olympics
The news that the American sprinting star Sha’Carri Richardson faced disqualification from the Olympics after testing positive for marijuana quickly drew an outsized reaction,...
E-cigarettes more helpful than nicotine replacement treatments for smokers
E-cigarettes are more effective than nicotine replacement treatments in achieving long term smoking reduction and cessation, according to the results of a clinical trial...
Draft UK guidelines to tackle the health burden of smoking
Healthcare staff in the United Kingdom should give clear and up-to-date information on e-cigarettes to people who are interested in using them to stop...
Cannabis use may be associated with suicidality in young adults – NIH
An analysis in the United States of survey data from more than 280,000 young adults ages 18-35 showed that cannabis use was associated with...
Cigarette sales dive in Japan, on shift to vaping amid pandemic
Industry data has shown that Japan's cigarette sales in the fiscal year 2020 fell below 100 billion for the first time in decades, as...
To quit or to substitute – The new global tobacco war
Low-and-middle-income countries, where 80% of the world’s smokers live, are the new battleground in a war between the world’s top anti-tobacco outfits and a...
Use villainous ‘big tobacco’ for public good — Experts
A seasoned litigator against major tobacco companies and a tobacco stocks investment manager have warned regulators and law makers that the ‘demonisation of big...
Women now drink as much as men – And are prone to sickness sooner
In the past five years, women have caught up to men in terms of risky drinking habits, writes Aneri Pattani for Kaiser Health News....
Patients hopeful for France's medical cannabis experiment
Doctors are slowly enrolling patients in France's first experiment with medical cannabis, three months after it began, writes Sarah Elzas for Radio France International. Many...
The effect of COVID-19 on alcohol consumption globally – OECD report
The COVID‑19 pandemic and its associated government measures to limit mobility impacted on patterns and places of alcohol consumption worldwide, according to an OECD...
Tobacco smoking control – Much research, little action
Forget health ministers, legislators, and university trustees. Any hope for ending the tobacco pandemic lies in the commitment of every health professional to make...
Ban on flavoured vaping may have led teens to cigarettes — Yale study
After San Francisco banned flavoured vaping, the odds of high school students smoking cigarettes doubled, according to Yale University. There is a need to...
Minimum unit alcohol price in Scotland and Wales reaps benefits
The introduction of minimum pricing of alcohol has had a lasting impact in Scotland and is starting to have an effect in Wales, according...
After 50 years, US opens the door for more cannabis research
After more than 50 years, the United States federal government is lifting a roadblock to cannabis research that scientists and advocates say has hindered...
Global study of 70,000 people links dementia to smoking, cardiovascular disease
In the largest study of the associations between smoking and cardiovascular disease on cognitive function, researchers found that both impair the ability to learn...
Time to screen for older patients' cannabis use?
Cannabis use more than doubled over the past decade among Americans of 50 years and over, with nearly one in 10 now reporting usage...
Alcohol may have immediate effect on atrial fibrillation risk, events
Alcohol appears to have an immediate – or near-immediate – effect on heart rhythm, significantly increasing the chance that an episode of atrial fibrillation...
Complete (not partial) alcohol bans can help SA hospitals – New study
Bans on alcohol could be a sensible policy to help South Africa through new health crises, suggests a study published this week in the...
Improving smoking and blood pressure outcomes in medical practices
Primary care medical practices should improve smoking cessation counselling and blood pressure quality metrics in order to make meaningful gains in cardiovascular disease care,...