TL;DR: A 2026 study in Population Health Metrics used Global Burden of Disease 2019 estimates and found that U.S. substance-use-disorder health loss rose sharply from 1990 to 2019, with opioid use disorders driving the largest increase. Key Findings 19.5 million cases: Estimated U.S. substance use disorder prevalence increased from 12.6 million in 1990 to 19.5 …
TL;DR: A 2026 randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial in The Lancet (N=108 adults with both moderate-to-severe alcohol use disorder and obesity) found that 26 weeks of once-weekly 2.4 mg semaglutide reduced heavy drinking days by 41.1 percentage points compared with a 26.4-point reduction on placebo — a 13.7-point treatment difference, with parallel drops in alcohol craving, …
TL;DR: A 2026 study in eLife found that prior cocaine self-administration disrupted how rat orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), a frontal brain region involved in task structure and flexible behavior, encoded hidden states in an odor-sequence task. Key Findings 3,881 single units: The study recorded 3,881 lateral OFC single units while rats performed a sequential odor task. …
TL;DR: A 2026 study in Drug and Alcohol Dependence Reports found 70 known Australian fatal poisonings involving new psychoactive stimulants and hallucinogens (NPSH), a category of newer stimulant- or hallucinogen-like drugs that often appeared alongside other psychoactive substances. Key Findings Researchers identified 70 fatal drug-toxicity cases in Australia from 2000 to 2025 where NPSH were …
TL;DR: A 2026 medRxiv preprint from the ENIGMA Addiction Working Group used structural MRI from 2,782 people with substance use disorder (SUD) and 1,951 controls and reported that addiction-related brain differences followed cortical network hubs and neurotransmitter receptor maps. Key Findings 4,733-person MRI sample: Researchers compared 2,782 people with SUD against 1,951 controls across 51 …
TL;DR: A 2026 rat study in Neuropsychopharmacology reported that repeated semaglutide treatment reduced cocaine-vs-food choice in male and female rats, supporting further clinical testing for cocaine use disorder rather than proving human benefit. Key Findings 5-day treatment: Rats received repeated semaglutide treatment across 5 days rather than a single acute dose. Two active doses: Both …
TL;DR: A 2026 study in Computers in Human Behavior grouped 1,316 U.S. adults by when they first saw sexually explicit media and when regular viewing began; the highest distress appeared in people who moved into regular viewing early, while late regular engagement looked lower-risk in this cross-sectional survey. Key Findings Three trajectories emerged: researchers identified …
TL;DR: A 2026 study in PLOS One found that Texas ICU COVID-19 hospitalizations coded for current nicotine dependence had lower crude and adjusted mortality than hospitalizations coded as never nicotine dependent, but the administrative-data design means the result should not be read as evidence that nicotine is protective. Key Findings Large ICU cohort: Researchers analyzed …
TL;DR: A 2026 mouse study in Neurochemical Research found that 28 days of unpredictable chronic mild stress increased dopamine D1 receptor binding across the striatum and raised dopamine D2 receptor binding only in selected regions, regardless of fatty acid-binding protein 7 gene deletion. Key Findings Adult male mice were exposed to 28 days of unpredictable …
TL;DR: A 2025 study in Computers in Human Behavior linked at-risk problematic gaming to weaker basic working memory, while recreational gaming was linked to better target detection on an attention-control task. Key Findings Three gaming groups: Researchers compared 114 adults who were non-gamers, recreational gamers, or gamers at risk for gaming disorder. Working memory was …
