Startling new research findings contradict conventional wisdom about opioids – and may help guide the design of pain relievers that do not produce addiction or other adverse effects produced by morphine and other opioid medicines.

Can you go an entire weekend without drinking any alcohol? It’s a 72-hour-long experiment that the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD) would like you to try during the month of April, which is designated as Alcohol Awareness Month.

The nation’s largest professional psychological organization would like to see treatment emphasized over punishment when it comes to dealing with the opioid crisis. That view from the American Psychological Association (APA) contrasts with the plan this week unveiled by President Trump to address the opioid epidemic.

The opioid epidemic that is causing devastation in many communities in the U.S. may be being worsened by financial payments made by pharmaceutical companies to advocacy organizations that help people cope with chronic pain, according to a new report released by Missouri Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill. Fueling an Epidemic: Exposing the Financial Ties Between Opioid Manufacturers and Third Party Advocacy Groups exposes the cozy financial relationships between the pharmaceutical industry and groups that assist pain sufferers.

A popular herbal remedy for – among other things – opioid abuse has opioid properties that can lead to abuse, addiction and even death, says the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). A scientific analysis of the botanical substance kratom identified opioid properties in its compounds. In other words, kratom compounds may affect the body just like opioids.

Opioid prescribing has increased 471 percent from 1996 to 2012, according to a new Annals of Emergency Medicine study, “Emergency Department Contribution to the Prescription Opioid Epidemic.” But, emergency departments are not a major source of opioid prescriptions. In fact, their share of opioid prescribing is small and declining.

Despite a policy that led to a decrease in the amount of prescription opioids dispensed in West Virginia, hospitalizations related to opioids have not significantly declined, according to researchers from West Virginia University. More alarming: the data shows that there was more than a 200 percent increase in heroin poisonings following the policy’s implementation. The study found that overall opioid poisonings rates increased significantly from 2008 to 2015 among all age groups.

President Trump’s declaring the opioid epidemic a national health emergency is a critical first step, but it does not address the urgent need for more federal funds to fight this crisis, according to Arthur C. Evans, Jr., PhD, CEO of the American Psychological Association (APA). Evans said the declaration does not automatically direct federal funds to address the problem – funds which should go to the states, because they “are battling this epidemic on the front lines.”

The amount of opioids prescribed in the United States peaked in 2010 and then decreased each year through 2015, but remains at high levels and varies from county to county in the U.S., according to the latest Vital Signs report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Students who have used electronic cigarettes by the time they start ninth grade are more likely than others to start smoking traditional cigarettes and other combustible tobacco products within the next year, according to a new study funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).