Substance use disorder (SUD) is a public health crisis in the United States (U.S.), with the associated mortality rates at an all-time high. Having access to Recovery Housing (RH), and other Recovery Support Services (RSSs), supports the development of "recovery capital", the 'physical, social, human, and cultural resources' that can be drawn upon to initiate and help sustain long term recovery.

Study objectives were to examine (1) baseline differences in substance use motives (social, coping, enhancement, and physical discomfort) among older, middle-aged, and younger adults, and (2) whether age group moderated associations between substance use motives at baseline and substance use outcomes at six-month follow-up.

Anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) are synthetic derivatives of testosterone, primarily used for their anabolic effects in increasing muscle mass. However, AAS have been increasingly abused, posing significant health risks due to their severe effects.

Following the United States (U.S.) Federal Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, many retailers began selling intoxicating cannabis products, including Delta-8 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) as "hemp," claiming that it provided a legal loophole to do so. This qualitative study assessed Delta-8 THC messaging on YouTube, the world's second-most visited website.

Illicit substance use (ISU) may be a potential predisposing factor for severe COVID-19 outcomes.

Variation in policy design presents a challenge for understanding the positive and negative externalities of cannabis legalization. We offer an advancement on measuring state cannabis policy variation - policy bundles - and demonstrate how the measure can be used to test the effects of cannabis legalization on youth mental health.

Opioid use disorder (OUD) in pregnancy has substantially increased throughout the drug overdose crisis, but little is known about how local community environments are associated with OUD in pregnancy. This study investigates spatial patterns and residential ZIP code-level factors associated with delivery hospitalizations with OUD in Pennsylvania and compares these patterns to those for all delivery hospitalizations and all OUD-related hospitalizations.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms are common in people with cocaine use disorder (CUD), and even sub-threshold PSTD symptoms result in worse treatment outcomes. Difficulties with reward functioning may drive this comorbidity. Impairments in reward functioning are prominent in both PTSD and CUD and contribute to development of substance use problems after trauma. There are three distinct reward processes that may be involved in the PTSD/CUD overlap: consummatory reward (ability to experience pleasure), motivational reward (willingness to exert effort for rewards), and reward learning (adapting behavior based on reward history). Here we test whether impairments in these reward functions account for the relationship between PTSD and CUD symptoms.

Several studies reporting the association between khat chewing and health problems emphasized the role of "heavy use patterns." Such findings indicate the need to understand khat chewing topography, which is the mapping of the behavioral patterns regarding khat use and the contextual factors shaping such behaviors. The study of consumption topography offers the opportunity to examine the self-regulation systems individuals employ to maintain the desired physical and emotional state.

App use is related to smoking cessation outcomes in mobile-based interventions but studies that examine its impact on traditional interventions combined with an app are still scarce. Moreover, the interplay between app use and participants' sociodemographic characteristics remains unexplored, particularly in blended smoking cessation interventions.

We sought to examine the association of risk behaviors (i.e., risk perception, risk-taking/impulsivity, and sensation-seeking) and mental health symptomatology (depression, posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD], anxiety and anger) on problematic alcohol use (alcohol problems and frequent heavy drinking [FHD]) among United States Army Reserve and National Guard (USAR/NG) soldiers.

This study investigated relationships between low-income adolescent drinkers' frequent alcohol use and five factors: social disorganization, social structural, social integration, mental health, and access to healthcare.

While illicit substances are commonly involved in the overdose crisis, prescription substances still play a role. Oftentimes, decedents do not have prescriptions for these substances at the time of death. As such, we sought to examine the prevalence of nonmedical drug use in Tennessee through linkage of fatal drug overdose and prescription data.

To explore recently/currently pregnant people's experiences and views about cannabis use during pregnancy and their associated support for policies that punish pregnant people who use cannabis.

Alcohol-impaired driving is a costly public health problem with a high rate of recidivism.

Alcohol use among emerging adults is a public health concern, as it has been associated with numerous negative consequences. Poor sleep has repeatedly been associated with alcohol-related consequences in this age group, yet factors impacting this relationship and potential moderators remain largely unexplored.

Social influences from peers, such as the perceptions of how much one's peers drink (i.e., descriptive drinking norms) are robust predictors of college drinking. In the digital age, these influences can happen on social media through viewing posts shared by peers depicting drinking (alcohol-related content). Social media influencers also post alcohol-related content and are popular among students. However, less is known about whether influencer drinking norms potentially mediate the association between viewing influencer alcohol-related content and drinking. College students who drink alcohol ( = 528) completed an online survey which assessed if they followed influencers who posted alcohol-related content, how often they perceived the influencer shared the content, influencer norms, and personal alcohol consumption and consequences. Findings from two cross-sectional mediation models revealed that influencer norms mediated associations between following more influencers who shared alcohol-related content or frequency of influencer content and participant drinking. These findings suggest that influencer norms are uniquely linked to students' drinking habits. Further, it extends prior research in the influencer domain by examining how perceptions of how much influencers drink (i.e., descriptive norms) may impact college drinking.

Pain is a highly common and costly health problem that is strongly linked to cigarette smoking. Pain interference, the degree to which pain impedes physical, occupational, recreational, and social functioning, may have an important role in terms of smoking cessation. However, no study has examined the role of pain interference as a predictor of relapse following a quit attempt in a smoking cessation trial. The current study examined the role of pain interference, above the effects of pain intensity, on relapse following a quit attempt. Participants were 121 treatment-seeking adult cigarette smokers (29% female; Mage = 29.32, SD = 7.52) who attended a randomized-controlled trial (RCT) testing the effect of a digital single-session personalized feedback intervention (PFI) for distress tolerance and cigarette smoking behavior. Multiple logistic regressions were conducted to examine pain intensity and pain interference scores as predictors of 7-day point prevalence abstinence (PPA) at 2 weeks and 4 weeks following the 1-session intervention. Models controlled for sex, baseline cigarette dependence, treatment condition, and baseline distress tolerance. Pain interference was associated with higher odds of reporting relapse at 4-week post intervention (OR: 1.54, 95% CI [1.06, 2.25]).), while pain intensity only showed a non-significant association with higher odds of reporting relapse at 2-week (OR: 1.40, 95% CI [0.67, 2.94]). Conclusions: This prospective study highlights the effect of pain interference on later-stage relapse outcomes following participation in a cigarette smoking cessation program.

Research suggests that individuals who experience four or more adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have increased rates of cannabis use. However, most prior research does not separate recreational and medical usage. Medical cannabis is used legally in many states to treat a variety of health conditions, many of which are also associated with ACEs. Therefore, we explore the extent to which medical cannabis users differ from recreational cannabis users and whether medical use is associated with ACEs, poor health, or disability. Accordingly, we ask the following questions: Are ACEs associated with any cannabis use when controlling for measures of poor health and disability? Are ACEs associated with medical cannabis use? Are associations between ACEs and medical cannabis use explained by poor health and/or disability? Using 2019 BRFSS data, we find that ACEs are significantly associated with cannabis use, but that disability and poor health fully account for the effect of ACEs on medical cannabis use. We conclude that practitioners screen for ACEs and disability status when prescribing medical cannabis.

This study examined drug overdose deaths in Mexican-heritage Arizonans, with the goal of informing tailored overdose prevention programs for this community.

Supervised Consumption Sites (SCS) have proven effective in reducing overdose-related deaths by providing safe spaces for people who use substances. However, barriers such as stigma, operating hours, and travel distance can limit access to SCS. Virtual harm reduction services such as phone-based overdose response hotlines and apps have emerged as an alternative when SCS access is hindered. These collectively have also been named Mobile Overdose Response Services (MORS). At this time, little is known about how best to increase awareness of these services.

To examine prevalence trends in the use of smoked tobacco products in 11 South American (SA) countries (i.e., Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela) and their association with country-specific socio-demographic index (SDI) over 30 years.

Waterpipe tobacco (WT) is unique compared to other tobacco products. Retailers and manufacturers may promote WT products using different marketing appeals and sales propositions on popular digital marketing media. This study examined WT digital marketing content in the United States (U.S.).

Syringe services programs (SSPs) provide critical evidence-based public health services that decrease harms from drug use for people who use drugs (PWUD). Many SSPs have experienced significant and evolving COVID-19-related disruptions. We aimed to characterize the impacts of COVID-19 on SSP operations in the United States approximately two years into the pandemic. Participating sites, selected from a national sample of SSPs, completed a semi-structured interview teleconference and brief electronic survey evaluating the impacts of COVID-19 on program operations. Data collection explored program financing, service delivery approaches, and perspectives on staff morale two years into the pandemic. Interview data were analyzed qualitatively using Rapid Assessment Process. Survey data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and triangulated with qualitative findings. Twenty-five SSPs completed the interview and survey between April - June 2022. Triangulation of qualitative and quantitative data characterized the dynamic ways that demand for SSP services has evolved throughout the pandemic, and how approaches to care delivery have increased in flexibility and participant-centeredness. However, SSPs expressed worry about longer-term barriers to program participant and staff engagement, and a mismatch between available programmatic resources and the "new normal" of service delivery needs. The COVID-19 pandemic has had lasting impacts on multiple facets of syringe service delivery. While SSPs consistently meet barriers with ingenuity, greater programmatic and staff support is needed to ensure SSPs can continue to meet the changing public health needs for PWUD.

Despite limited scientific evidence, public perceptions of cannabis as health enhancing are significant. As food products, cannabis edibles (edibles), may also leverage food-related associations that convey health. Social media is a prominent and influential source of largely unregulated cannabis information and a potential place to correct misinformation. Given its potential to shape product appeal and perceptions of health benefits and risks, understanding the social media landscape around edibles and health is a priority.

The current study tested the feasibility and acceptability of a novel, Instagram-based intervention designed to reduce alcohol use and promote mindfulness and protective behavioral strategies among young adults who binge drink.

Extended-release naltrexone (XR-NTX, Vivitrol) is an effective, but underutilized, evidence-based treatment for people with opioid use disorder (POUD) who are incarcerated. Networks of family, friends, and clinicians serve as social influencers of health behaviors, including XR-NTX initiation, and are especially salient in Appalachia.

Philadelphia's opioid overdose crisis has reached unprecedented levels. However, overdose deaths involving non-opioids have also increased in recent years. As overdose deaths continue to increase, this study describes and compares the demographic characteristics, prescription drug histories, and exposure to potentially inappropriate prescribing practices (PIPPs), in the year before death of three groups of overdose decedents: (1) only opioid(s) detected in postmortem toxicology, (2) only non-opioid(s) detected, (3) both opioids and non-opioids co-detected [i.e. concomitant detections].

Multiracial American adults have the highest rates of binge drinking and illicit drug use of all racial groups, yet little is known about the risk and promotive factors that contribute to their substance use.

Previous studies identified e-cigarette content on popular video and image-based social media platforms such as TikTok. While machine learning approaches have been increasingly used with text-based social media data, image-based analysis such as image-clustering has been rarely used on TikTok. Image clustering can identify underlying patterns and structures across large sets of images, enabling more streamlined distillation and analysis of visual data on TikTok. This study used image-clustering approaches to examine e-cigarette-related images on TikTok.