Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs

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OBJECTIVE: Epidemiological research has repeatedly found that alcohol-impaired driving is associated with elevated risk of crash involvement in a dose-response fashion. While experimental studies show that alcohol impairment of cognitive and psychomotor driving skills is exacerbated by sleep deprivation, there is less evidence that the combination of drowsiness and alcohol predicts actual motor vehicle crashes. METHOD: We explored this by reanalyzing data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Drug and Alcohol Crash Risk Study, constructing separate risk curves for daytime and nighttime hours...

OBJECTIVE: Heavy drinking poses serious risks to individuals with HIV, Hepatitis C Virus (HCV), and especially HIV/HCV coinfection. We adapted the NIAAA Clinician's Guide (CG) to address HIV/HCV coinfection and paired this with the "HealthCall" smartphone app to create an intervention tailored to HIV/HCV. After formative work and pretesting with HIV/HCV coinfected heavy drinkers, we conducted a pilot trial to determine potential of this new intervention for decreasing drinking. METHOD: A sample of 31 HIV/HCV coinfected heavy drinkers were randomly assigned to either intervention (n=16) or control (n=15; psychoeducation and brief advice) conditions...

OBJECTIVE: Thus far, behavioral health research in the United States has not explored the prevalence or correlates of sober curiosity (SC; exploratory or experimental abstinence or moderation) or temporary alcohol abstinence challenges (TAACs; e.g., "Dry January"), despite significant attention in media and popular discourse. We explored these activities in a sample of U.S. emerging adults (e.g., ages 18-29), a population with higher-risk drinking behavior yet some of the lowest rates of treatment engagement for alcohol use problems...

OBJECTIVE: Assessment reactivity research has contributed substantially to our understanding of alcohol treatment research protocols influencing clinical outcomes. The state of the science is such that relatively little is known about how alcohol treatment research participation influences behavior. The purpose of this study was twofold: 1) to determine the distribution of FRAMES elements (i.e., Feedback, personal Responsibility, Advice, a Menu of options, Empathic style of interaction, and support for Self-efficacy) contained in alcohol treatment research assessment interviews; and 2) to examine their association with subsequent alcohol use among a sample of clients presenting for alcohol use disorder (AUD) treatment...

OBJECTIVE: The surge in popularity of semaglutide (Ozempic©, Wegovy©, Rybelsus©) and other GLP-1 receptor agonists has been accompanied by widespread reports of unintended reductions in alcohol use (and other addictive behaviors) during treatment. With clinical trials of GLP-1 receptor agonists for substance use only recently underway, anecdotal reports (including via social media) are now a primary reason for interest in potential effects of GLP-1 receptor agonists on alcohol use in patient populations...

OBJECTIVE: Understanding transitions in nicotine and cannabis use has implications for prevention and efforts to reduce harmful use. Focusing on cross-substance associations, we examined how use of one substance was associated with year-to-year transitions in frequency of use of the other among young adults in the context of legalized nonmedical cannabis. METHOD: A statewide sample from Washington (N = 4,039; ages 18-25 at baseline) provided up to three years of annual data on past-month cannabis use and nicotine use (tobacco cigarettes and e-cigarettes/vaping)...

OBJECTIVE: As the US cannabis market expands, surveillance of retailer practices, especially product health claims and risks, is crucial to protect consumers. In this study, mystery shoppers (i.e., staff not explicitly identified as researchers) examined retail personnel communication regarding product recommendations, health benefits, safety, and/or risks among US cannabis retailers. METHODS: In Summer 2022, mystery shoppers audited 140 licensed cannabis retailers in 5 cities in states with established non-medical (i...

OBJECTIVE: Young adults who engage in simultaneous alcohol and cannabis use report heavy use of both substances. Event-level studies examining differences between consequences experienced on simultaneous use compared to single substance use days have been mixed. While studies often control for alcohol use levels, few have examined how quantity of alcohol may influence consequences experienced on simultaneous use days. Furthermore, little research has examined the relationship between simultaneous use and positive consequences or explored individual consequences...

OBJECTIVE: Alcohol-related problems (e.g., physical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, impulse control, social responsibility) can impact PTSD symptoms during treatment. Evidence-based online self-help tools exist to target alcohol use and related problems and co-occurring PTSD symptoms. It is unknown to what degree individuals with varying alcohol-related problems respond differently to web-based interventions for hazardous alcohol use and PTSD. The current study evaluated specific alcohol-related problems as potential moderators of PTSD symptom changes during the VetChange online intervention while controlling for average daily alcohol use, gender, race, and age...

OBJECTIVE: Recent research has shown potential for psychedelic therapeutics as addiction treatments; however, some academic institutions, commercial entities and individuals are attempting to monopolize psychedelic compounds through exploiting the patent process. METHODS: This Perspective article describes efforts that have been devised to mitigate exclusionary patent practices pertinent to psychedelic therapeutics for addiction. RESULTS: The non-profit Porta Sophia has identified 170 patent documents focused on treating addiction through psychedelics, and many of these patents could threaten to privatize public domain knowledge and severely limit or increase the cost of research if granted...

OBJECTIVE: Underreporting of substance use is a frequent concern about studies based on self-report, but few robust studies have examined the agreement between different methods for capturing self-reported substance use. The current study therefore used repeated measures to compare self-reported substance use using (1) clinician interviewers and (2) self-administered computerized surveys in a sample that included both inpatients and community residents. METHODS: Adults age ≥18 years with problematic substance use were recruited from the community or an inpatient addiction treatment facility...

North America has been home to an unprecedented crisis of drug overdose deaths, driven largely by drug users' exposure to highly potent and toxic, illicit opioid drugs (e.g., fentanyl). While a large and diverse menu of interventions (e.g., targeted prevention or treatment measures) has been implemented or expanded in Canada, these have not effectively managed to revert and reduce this death toll. Given the fact that these interventions do not directly aim to address toxic drug exposure as the primary vector and cause of acute overdose deaths, public health-oriented 'safer drug supply' measures have been initiated in local settings across Canada...

OBJECTIVE: Contingency Management (CM) is the gold standard treatment for stimulant use disorder but typically requires twice- to thrice-weekly in-person treatment visits to objectively-verify abstinence and deliver therapeutic incentives. There has been growing interest in telehealth-based delivery of CM to support broad access to this essential intervention--a need that has been emphatically underscored by the COVID-19 pandemic. Herein, we present observations from initial efforts to develop and test a protocol for telehealth-based delivery of Prize-Based CM treatment incentivizing stimulant abstinence...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

OBJECTIVE: Utilize a dual-process decision-making model to examine the longitudinal associations between alcohol-induced blackouts (blackouts) and alcohol use disorder (AUD) risk symptoms among college student drinkers. METHOD: Undergraduate drinkers ( N = 2,024; 56% female; 87% White; 5% Hispanic) at a large northeastern university completed online surveys each semester during their first (T1, T2), second (T3, T4), third (T5, T6), and fourth (T7, T8) years of college (87% retention across the study)...

OBJECTIVE: To analyze buprenorphine prescribing across states in Medicaid patients during 2019-2020. METHODS: Buprenorphine prescriptions per Medicaid enrollee per state was calculated for 2019 and 2020. Data analysis was conducted with buprenorphine formulations that are FDA approved for opioid use disorder (OUD) (including generic and brand name formulations of buprenorphine mono product and buprenorphine/naloxone combination products) using Microsoft Excel. The totals of mono product buprenorphine were divided over the total of combination buprenorphine/naloxone in 2019 and 2020 to obtain the ratio of mono/combo...

OBJECTIVE: Experiencing negative substance use consequences may deter future use, alter patterns of substance use (e.g., substituting one substance for another, combining substances), or point to a sustained pattern of engaging in heavy or frequent use. We used monthly data to examine relationships between negative alcohol and cannabis use consequences experienced in one month and changes in use the following month. METHOD: Data were from 508 individuals (59% female; ages 18-23 at enrollment) who were surveyed monthly for two years and used both alcohol and cannabis during the study period...

UNLABELLED: Excessive alcohol consumption and its consequences among college women continues despite prevention efforts. One common consequence, alcohol-related blackouts (ARBs), are period of alcohol activated anterograde amnesia. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the current project is to extend the ARB and drinking motive literature by examining their relationship over time. METHOD: A sample of 424 women (88.9% White) completed online surveys assessing their ARBs and drinking motives weekly for ten weeks...

OBJECTIVE: Most young people start to drink alcohol in adolescence and increase their consumption until their early 20s. The present study meta-analyzed results of longitudinal studies across the age-range of 10 to 25 years. METHODS: A systematic search in the PsycInfo, PSYNDEX and Web of Science data bases resulted in 513 studies that were included in multi level meta-analysis. RESULTS: On average, alcohol consumption increased by .21 standard deviation units per year with the strongest increase at the age of 12 to 13 years...