Alcohol And Drug Abuse – Johns Hopkins Medicine Podcasts

Many substances marketed as ‘supplements’ enjoy a lack of oversight and regulation, among them kratom, a plant based extract from Asia. While some users report pain relief and mood improvement there are no studies to support this, and as Eric …

How did the current situation with kratom develop? Elizabeth Tracey reports Read more →

Over a thousand fold in the last year. That’s the increase in the number of emergency department visits nationally due to use of kratom, a drug sold unregulated in convenience stores and gas stations as well as online. Substance use …

What is the likelihood that you’ll experience a problem with a product labeled as kratom? Elizabeth Tracey reports Read more →

When someone presents to an emergency department after having taken an unknown drug, screening is typically undertaken. Yet for kratom, which last year accounted for over a thousand fold increase in ED visits, no screen is available. Substance use disorder …

If you have a bad experience after taking kratom, can medical professionals help? Read more →

Kratom is a drug that has been unregulated and sold for decades in smoke shops and elsewhere, now associated with over a thousand fold increase in emergency department visits. Why? Substance use disorder expert Eric Strain at Johns Hopkins explains. …

Consuming kratom products may result in an ED visit, Elizabeth Tracey reports Read more →

You may have noticed among the offerings at gas stations and convenience stores something called kratom. This is a plant based drug with the potential for undesired side effects that is unregulated in the United States. Now over a thousand …

Kratom is accounting for a dramatic rise in ED visits, Elizabeth Tracey reports Read more →

Is alcohol a risk factor for cancer development? Elizabeth Tracey reports Several cancer societies have come out fingering alcohol consumption as a risk factor for several types of cancer, the most recent the American Association for Cancer Research. Kimmel Cancer …

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Nitazines are the new kid on the block when it comes to synthetic opioids being found in street drugs, and they can be about 40 times as powerful as fentanyl. Eric Strain, a substance use disorders expert at Johns Hopkins, …

Synthetic opioids continue to complicate rates of opioid dependance and death, Elizabeth Tracey reports Read more →

Opioid overdoses continue to be a huge public health problem, with new synthetic opioids continuing to be developed. Eric Strain, a substance use disorder expert at Johns Hopkins, says one bright spot is access to treatment is improving. Strain: I …

Readily available treatment is important for opioid addiction, Elizabeth Tracey reports Read more →

Just keeping up with the names is difficult: fentanyl, carfentanyl, xylazine, now nitazines…and each has a host of harms and is more potent than its predecessor. Substance use disorder expert Eric Strain at Johns Hopkins says keeping up is a …

How is it that more and more powerful opioids are appearing among street drugs? Elizabeth Tracey reports. Read more →

Adding the potent opioid nitazine to heroin or fentanyl is hard to understand, since it ups the likelihood you’ll kill your clientele. Eric Strain, a substance use disorder expert at Johns Hopkins, is nonplussed. Strain: Why? That's a great question …

Why add even more potent synthetic opioids to existing ones? Elizabeth Tracey reports Read more →