New Study Finds Direct Mom-Child Alcohol Link
While a mother’s alcohol use has long been linked to a variety of problems in their children, including mental retardation, developmental delays and behavioral disorders, a new study is the first to tie prenatal alcohol exposure to later drinking problems.

Monthly Illicit Drug Use Highest in S.F. Area
About 13 percent of San Francisco residents told federal researchers they used some type of illicit drug in the past month, the highest reported drug-use rate in the country, USA Today reported Jan. 8.

Study Shows Most Treatment Effective Against Alcoholism
A complex study of alcoholism treatment medications and counseling has found that most stand-alone and combined therapies were effective in promoting short-term abstinence, with only the drug acamprosate (Campral) proving to be disappointing.

NIDA Calls for Meetings to Be Held in States, Cities with Indoor-Smoking Bans
With a few exceptions, future meetings sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) will only be held in communities that have enacted comprehensive smoke-free policies, the agency said.

One in Three Alcoholics in Recovery, Study Says
Despite a scarcity of formal addiction treatment, more than one in three people who have been dependent on alcohol in their lifetime are now in recovery, WedMD reported Jan. 19.

Inhalants Are the Most Popular Drug for 12-Year-Olds
Children often believe that common household substances like glue, nail polish or gasoline are harmless. In fact, using inhalants can cause sudden sniffing death from heart or lung failure, asphyxiation, paralysis of breathing mechanisms or accidental from intoxication. Long-term effects include: brain, respiratory, liver, kidney and bone marrow damage; short-term memory loss; and hearing impairment.

Shame Becomes Potent Weapon in Fighting Drug Crime
Family and social pressure, not arrests, have been successful in fighting drug crime in one North Carolina community, the Wall Street Journal reported Sept. 27.

Females Typically Have Different Motivations For Drug Use
The path to drug abuse can be more rapid and complex for women than it is for men and typically includes a pattern of breakdowns in individual, familial, and environmental protective factors and an increase in childhood fears, anxieties, phobias, and failed relationships.

Ecstasy: Too Often a Fatal Trip
A recent survey of teens conducted by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse found that one in four questioned said they had a friend or class mate whom they knew had used Ecstasy, and 17% said they knew more than one user. Often referred to as this decade’s version of LSD, Ecstasy is, according to some of its users “the hottest drug going now.” It’s also one of the deadliest.

Marijuana, Memory, and the Hippocampus
As people age, they normally lose neurons in the hippocampus, which decreases their ability to remember events. Chronic THC exposure can significantly hasten the age-related loss of hippocampal neurons.