The nexus of opioids, pain, and addiction: Challenges and solutions.

Pain and addiction are complex disorders with many commonalities. Beneficial outcomes for both disorders can be achieved through similar principles such as individualized medication selection and dosing, comprehensive multi-modal therapies, and judicious modification of treatment as indicated by the patient's status. This is implicit in the term "medication assisted treatment" (MAT) for opioid use disorders (OUD), and is equally important in pain management; however, for many OUD and pain patients, medication is central to the treatment plan and should neither be denied nor withdrawn if critical to patient well-being.

Kratom as a substitute for opioids: Results from an online survey.

Background: Kratom is a South Eastern Asian tree whose leaves are used to make tea-like brews or swallowed in powdered form for various health and well-being reasons including to relieve pain and opioid withdrawal. It is important to learn more about the potential public health impact of kratom in the context of the opioid epidemic.

Methods: An anonymous online survey of kratom users (2867 current users and 157 former users) was conducted in September 2017 through the American Kratom Association and associated social media sites.

The Impact of Flavor Descriptors on Nonsmoking Teens' and Adult Smokers' Interest in Electronic Cigarettes.

Introduction: Smokers switching completely from combustible cigarettes to electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are likely to reduce health risk, suggesting that e-cigarettes should be made appealing to adult smokers. However, uptake of e-cigarettes by nonsmoking teens would add risk without benefit and should be avoided. Although e-cigarette flavors may appeal to adult smokers, the concern is that flavors might attract nonsmoking teens.

Epidemiology of stimulant misuse and abuse: implications for future epidemiologic and neuropharmacologic research.

Stimulants are a diverse array of drugs that range from everyday caffeine to prescription medications and illicitly manufactured street drugs. The surveillance of misuse and abuse of stimulants many times confounds prescription and illicit street drugs such that the data are not specific enough to guide mitigation efforts or assess their impact. This review highlights the surveillance efforts that are conducted in the United States (US) for stimulant misuse and abuse.

Consumer understanding of prescription drug information: an illustration using an antidepressant medication.

Background: Patient education and warnings have emerged as prominent interventions for improving drug safety. As part of the provision of information and guidance on safe use of drugs, patients often receive multiple pieces of written information when they obtain a prescription medication, including a Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-mandated medication guide (MG), consumer medication information (CMI), and patient package insert (PPI).

Objective: To determine whether patients understand the materials providing drug information and whether the materials convey the intended information.

Disparities by ethnicity and socioeconomic status in the use of weight loss treatments.

Background: Prior research suggests that ethnic minorities and individuals of low socioeconomic status (SES) may be more likely to attempt weight loss using unproven methods.

Methods: Data were from a national, random-digit-dial telephone survey of weight loss practices. Seven modalities of weight loss were examined.

Use of nicotine replacement therapy among never smokers in the 1999-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys.

Nicotine replacement therapies (NRT) have been available without a prescription in the United States since 1996. Given that nicotine, at least as it is delivered through tobacco products, is addictive, we examined whether NRT was being used by individuals who have never smoked cigarettes. Adults (n=18,986) and adolescents (n=9187) who participated in the in-home survey and physical examination components of the 1999-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys were assessed for cigarette smoking status, other tobacco use or exposure, and use of NRT.

Understanding the association between authoritative parenting and adolescent smoking.

Background: Research on adolescent cigarette smoking has attempted to measure the role of parents in preventing smoking experimentation and uptake. However, aspects of parental influence have often been limited to parental smoking behavior or antismoking socialization. Only a limited number of studies considered the hypothesis that the influence of parenting on adolescent current cigarette smoking may extend beyond parental behavior and antismoking socialization to consider broader measures of the parent-child relationship, such as parenting style.

The association between adolescent smokers' desire and intentions to quit smoking and their views of parents' attitudes and opinions about smoking.

Objective: To explore whether an association exists between adolescent smokers' attitudes toward quitting and their beliefs about whether their parents know they smoke, their perceptions of whether their parents disapprove of smoking, their recollection of their parents' expressed disapproval of smoking, and the importance they place on their parents' opinions.

Methods: This cross sectional study of US high school students included 17,287 respondents. Only those who had smoked in the past 30 days (4593 [26.

Disparities in smoke-free workplace policies among food service workers.

Information is lacking on which groups of workers are protected from job-related environmental tobacco smoke. Data from the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey are analyzed for trends in smoke-free workplace policies among 38 major occupations. Data are also analyzed to determine the degree of compliance with such policies.

Tobacco use and cessation behavior among adolescents participating in organized sports.

Objectives: To examine the difference in tobacco use between adolescents who participate in organized sports and those who do not.

Methods: Using a cross-sectional study design, this study uses data from a nationally representative sample of adolescents enrolled in public high schools in the United States.

Results: Those participating in organized sports were 25% less likely to be current cigarette smokers.

Changes in adolescent cigarette-brand preference, 1989 to 1996.

Objective: To understand changes in cigarette-brand choice by adolescents in the context of demographic differences and advertising.

Methods: Data from 3 nationally representative cross-sectional surveys of adolescents were analyzed.

Results: Marlboro, Camel, and Newport brand cigarettes accounted for over 80% of the cigarettes usually bought by adolescents in 1989, 1993, and 1996.

Facilitating transdisciplinary research: the experience of the transdisciplinary tobacco use research centers.

Cigarette smoking is the largest preventable cause of death and morbidity in the United States. Heightened recognition of this public health concern has led researchers from multiple and varied disciplines to address this complex and multidimensional behavior. The need for an alternative research paradigm, focusing on a transdisciplinary approach that integrates work across disciplines in order to advance the field most quickly, has been identified.

Adolescents' acquisition of cigarettes through noncommercial sources.

To examine the association between demographic and smoking behavior variables and the likelihood of acquiring cigarettes through noncommercial sources. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's 1996 National Study of Tobacco Price Sensitivity, Behavior, and Attitudes among Teenagers and Young Adults was the data source in this analysis. Respondents were high school students (grades 9 through 12) ages 13 to 19 years.

The association among adolescents' tobacco use, their beliefs and attitudes, and friends' and parents' opinions of smoking.

Objective: To examine adolescents' attitudes toward smoking, the presence of a false consensus effect, and the influence of peer and parental attitudes about smoking choices on being a susceptible, never smoker; an experimenter; and a current smoker.

Methods: Data from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's 1996 National Study of Tobacco Price Sensitivity, Behavior, and Attitudes Among Teenagers and Young Adults (RWJF survey) were used to produce national estimates of the tobacco use behaviors and attitudes of adolescents enrolled in high school. Three logistic regression models were estimated to examine which psychosocial variables were associated with three different stages of smoking uptake.