Cocaine addiction involves a host of maddening issues related to psychiatric comorbidity. Perhaps none is more vexing than co-occurring attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), whether real, misdiagnosed, or malingered.

Dr Thomas Newton explains the facts behind why cocaine is so hard for people to quit.

Women and minorities are often underrepresented in addiction studies. This has lead to many unanswered questions about disease prevalence and treatment outcomes.

Relapse usually does not occur suddenly, nor do people plan their return to addictive substance use. From the client’s point of view, it just seems to happen. But there are always indictors that trouble is brewing.

Patients with addiction complain of cravings so frequently that sometimes it’s difficult to make sense of them. They are a common symptom and one that may serve as a predictor of whether a patient will relapse.

Dr. Thomas McLellan discusses how treating addiction with a chronic care model like that used to treat diabetes and asthma may be the key to helping patients stay sober and healthy.

In September, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed safety labeling changes for extended-release and long-acting (ER/LA) opioid analgesics intended to treat pain.

The possibility that food can be addicting has been getting some serious attention in recent years (see for example Gearhardt AN et al, J Addict Med 2009;3(1):1–7). The idea isn’t half-baked: food and other natural rewards, like sex, activate the same brain regions that are hijacked by drugs of abuse.

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Despite a large body of evidence providing overwhelming proof that misuse of cannabis can lead to the typical problems of substance abuse, some people continue to question the entire concept of cannabis (marijuana) addiction.