Posts by Nate Anderson

Much of the talk about legalizing marijuana seems to happen in an information vacuum. Today I’d like to talk facts about marijuana. Marijuana has been accepted as medicinal, when there isn’t hard, scientific evidence to support that idea. It’s been positioned as safe, when research shows that it has profound impact on the brain development…

If alcohol is affecting your life and relationships — you find it’s hard to control how much you drink or you depend on alcohol to get through the day — you may be among the 17.6 million adult Americans, 1 of 12, who have an alcohol-use disorder, according to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug…

With roughly 23.5 million Americans addicted to drugs or alcohol, and another 22 million in recovery, substance abuse happens often happens on the job. “It rarely goes unnoticed,” says Lawrence Weinstein, chief medical officer for  American Addiction Centers. ”People just don’t know what to do.” Here are signs a co-worker might be struggling with alcohol or…

Detoxing off heroin or opioids without medication is sheer hell. I should know. For many users, full-blown withdrawal is often foreshadowed by a yawn, or perhaps a runny nose, a sore back, sensitive skin or a restless leg. For me, the telltale sign that the heroin was wearing off was a slight tingling sensation when…

Most American teenagers — across demographic groups — see depression and anxiety as major problems among their peers, a new survey by the Pew Research Center found. The survey found that 70 percent of teenagers saw mental health as a big issue. Fewer teenagers cited bullying, drug addiction or gangs as major problems; those from…

On a Sunday morning in 2010, Steven Wall was given an ultimatum by his wife and his boss: Get help for your drinking or you’ll lose your marriage, your two young daughters and your job. Wall, the managing partner of internationally renowned law firm Morgan Lewis, had just returned from an epic bender during a…

With all eyes on opioids, this massive unseen threat continues to claim lives. In recent years, Americans have begun, justifiably, to recognize the complex public health problem of opioid misuse and associated overdose deaths as a national crisis. Unfortunately, as is often the case when a tidal wave of worry about a particular health issue…

The opioid epidemic is devastating America. Overdoses have passed car crashes and gun violence to become the leading cause of death for Americans under 55. The epidemic has killed more people than H.I.V. at the peak of that disease, and its death toll exceeds those of the wars in Vietnam and Iraq combined. Funerals for…

More than 25 per cent of young people classed themselves as “non drinkers” in a report by the science journal BMC Public Health.   It’s 11am on Christmas Day and you may well be on your second – third, even? – glass of Champagne. At midday, you might have a break with a pint of…

The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday announced a series of restrictions aimed at combating a growing public health menace — flavored e-cigarettes and tobacco products that have lured young people into vaping and smoking. And in a bold regulatory move, the agency said it would move to outlaw two traditional tobacco products that disproportionately…