Dirkh

LATEST ARTICLES ( 312 )

• Marijuana and Diabetes: Does Pot Make You Thin?

  

  Teasing out the insulin effect. On the face of it, the study seems to come out of left field: A group of researchers claimed that marijuana smokers showed... Read more

  Posted on 22 May 2013 HEALTH, SCIENCE

• From the Archives: Have Americans Become Afraid of Their Doctors?

  

  Noncompliance and the paranoid style. [Originally published June 27, 2007] Note: In the everlasting battle between consumers and Big Pharma, amid a string of... Read more

  Posted on 19 May 2013 HEALTH, MEDICINE, PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Six Arguments For the Elimination of Cigarettes

  

  Prohibition and the “tobacco control endgame.” Despite all our efforts in recent years to reduce the percentage of Americans who smoke cigarettes—currently abou... Read more

  Posted on 14 May 2013 HEALTH, PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• The Pot President

  

  Hendrik Hertzberg on the hypocrisy of the hip. In a blog post at the New Yorker last week, Hendrik Hertzberg spotlighted a recent joke made by the President of... Read more

  Posted on 11 May 2013 DEBATE, HEALTH, PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE, SOCIETY

• Orexin and Insomnia

  

  If Valium makes you groggy, and Ambien makes you sleepwalk… A compound that blocks a brain receptor you probably have never heard of may hold the key to the nex... Read more

  Posted on 07 May 2013 HEALTH, PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Clock Ticking On Colorado’s Marijuana Repeal Bill

  

  Proposal to revote on pot legalization is losing steam. While the rest of the nation argues over Colorado’s recent decision to legalize limited amounts of... Read more

  Posted on 06 May 2013 HEALTH, PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Where Are All the New Anti-Craving Drugs?

  

  The dilemma of dwindling drug development. Drugs for the treatment of addiction are now a fact of life. For alcoholism alone, the medications legally available... Read more

  Posted on 30 April 2013 HEALTH, PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Addiction Inbox (D)Evolves Into Paperback

  

  A curated collection of blog posts in print. Online is where journalism is happening now, but it is a truism that most of the world’s repository of knowledge... Read more

  Posted on 28 April 2013 HEALTH, PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Nature, Nurture, and Me

  

  Which came first, the addiction or the trauma? About a year ago, Jonathan Taylor, a professor at California State University in Fullerton, assigned his... Read more

  Posted on 25 April 2013 HEALTH, PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Let the Light Shine In: Addiction and Optogenetics

  

  Study says laser light can turn cocaine addiction on and off in rats. Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), had one word... Read more

  Posted on 22 April 2013 HEALTH, PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• On Dead Salmon, Drugs, and “Lighting Up” the Brain

  

  Are fMRIs truly useful in addiction medicine? What would it take to make neuroimaging a truly valuable tool for addiction medicine? Read more

  Posted on 18 April 2013 HEALTH, PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Marijuana and the Gateway Hypothesis

  

  Smoke pot, shoot smack? The Great Gateway Hypothesis has had a long, controversial run as a central tenet of American anti-drug campaigns. As put forth by Denis... Read more

  Posted on 14 April 2013 HEALTH, PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Thursday is National Alcohol Screening Day

  

  Assess your drinking risk with this easy test. The more you drink, the less likely you are to accurately perceive the risks of heavy drinking, according to a... Read more

  Posted on 10 April 2013 HEALTH, PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Marijuana and Strokes: Medical Reality Or Scare Story?

  

  Heavy tokers may be at higher risk, but alcohol is the hidden confounder. Young people don’t suffer from strokes, as a rule. And when they do, at least half... Read more

  Posted on 07 April 2013 HEALTH, PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Smokers’ Genes: Evidence From a 4-Decade Study

  

  How adolescent risk becomes adult addiction. Pediatricians have often remarked upon it: Give one adolescent his first cigarette, and he will cough and choke... Read more

  Posted on 28 March 2013 HEALTH, PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• More Hard Facts About Addiction Treatment

  

  “Yes, we take your insurance.” Recent reportage, such as Anne Fletcher’s book, Inside Rehab, has documented the mediocre application of vague and questionable... Read more

  Posted on 24 March 2013 HEALTH, PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Drug News in Brief

  

  Short takes on matters various. Taking Aim at Pot—Researchers have recently made clinical efforts to test three drugs that might help during marijuana withdrawa... Read more

  Posted on 20 March 2013 HEALTH, PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Big Tobacco Easily Evades “Light” Cigarette Ban

  

  Color coding allows smokers to easily identify their former brands. The tobacco industry has once again made a mockery of the Food and Drug Administration’s... Read more

  Posted on 16 March 2013 BUSINESS, HEALTH, SCIENCE

• Dying For Caffeine

  

  It’s not the coffee, it’s everything else. Late last year, coffee drinkers were buoyed by the release of a massive study in the New England Journal of Medicine... Read more

  Posted on 13 March 2013 HEALTH, PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Bees Benefit From Caffeine

  

  Caffeinated plants provide an unforgettable experience. Honeybees rewarded with caffeine remember the smell of specific flowers longer than bees given only... Read more

  Posted on 07 March 2013 HEALTH, PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE