Posts by LifeRing

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) has just released a guide for health care professionals to help identify children and teenagers age 9 to 18 who are at risk for alcohol-related problems, provide brief counseling, and refer them to treatment resources if that is indicated. While aimed at professionals, the guide contains…

A new study — on mice, not people — shows promising results with the use of a drug called Mifepristone to reduce relapse stemming from high stress levels. The drug was initially commercialized by the name RU-486, a drug that is widely used for inducing terminations of pregnancy. “It seems to impede the activity of…

The MSN website carried an article by Maia Szalavitz recently that should be of great interest to those seeking an overview of addiction that looks deeper than “spiritual weakness.” It’s a bit long, but worth the effort. Here it is: Although addiction and alcoholism treatment research has advanced tremendously since Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in…

The idea of “gateway drugs” has been a subject of controversy and ridicule for decades. It’s an argument aimed often at people who use marijuana and are told that pot leads to the use of “harder” drugs. It has also been a handy weapon to aim at teenagers who smoke tobacco. A new study suggests…