Drug and substance abuse continues to be a major problem across the United States, with 1 in 4 Americans over the age of 12 admitting that they used illicit drugs in 2022. 1 While alcohol, tobacco and ...

Remarkable scientific progress over the past five decades has helped us develop knowledge of how drugs of abuse induce pleasure, reinforce use, and lead to the compulsive self-administration we call ...

GLP-1 drugs, originally developed for diabetes and obesity, may also curb addictive behaviors by acting on reward circuits in the brain. Early trials show reductions in alcohol intake, opioid seeking, ...

Everyday human behavior is guided and shaped by the search for rewards. This includes eating tasty meals, drinking something refreshing, sexual activity and nurturing children. Many of these behaviors ...

A patient of mine, a veteran who had tried to quit smoking for over a decade, told me that after he started a GLP-1 drug for his diabetes, he lost interest in cigarettes. He didn’t use a patch. He ...

Research published in high-quality peer-reviewed journals reveals key information on the realities of addiction, exposing pervasive myths and misconceptions, as in these examples. False Belief 1: Drug ...