Popular belief does not expect women to “hold their liquor” as well as men, and this is one of those instances when science agrees with popular belief. If a man and a woman drink the same amount of alcohol, even if they are equal weight, the woman will have a higher concentration of alcohol in her blood. That’s because a greater proportion of the man’s body weight is water, which dilutes the alcohol; and also because the stomach walls of women compared to men contain less alcohol dehydrogenase, an enzyme that breaks down alcohol. Therefore, repeatedly drinking the same quantity of alcohol is likely to damage a woman’s organs—liver, heart muscle, brain—more quickly than a man’s. (Alcohol Metabolism) Published dietary guidelines reflect these differences and, for example, define moderate drinking as up to 1 drink per day for women and up to 2 drinks per day for men. (Dietary Guidelines) Continue reading →

People on paths of addiction recovery — and those who dedicate their professional lives to helping others get on such paths — often think of recovery as a spiritual practice.  Continue reading →

Misuse of prescription opioids is the fastest growing drug problem in the United States. And it will only get worse unless the population, especially youth, realizes that nonmedical use of these potent pain relievers is uncool and dangerous. Continue reading →

The World Health Organization identifies “The harmful use of alcohol [as] a global problem which compromises both individual and social development. It results in 2.5 million deaths each year. Alcohol is the world’s third largest risk factor for premature mortality, disability, and loss of health.” (WHO) Yet, perhaps because of our collective affection for beverage alcohol, we don’t get alarmed. As Frank Bruni points out in his commentary on the death of Whitney Houston, it’s other drugs that make the headlines. (New York Times) Continue reading →

Epidemic misuse of prescription pain medication in the United States is partly due to the availability of opioid analgesics (medication in pills, patches, injections, nasal sprays, and even lollipops that contain natural or synthetic substances that cause pain relief and euphoria by stimulating endorphin receptors in the brain). Can individuals and communities possibly do anything to reduce or reverse this deadly problem? The answer is yes. Specific actions by individuals, healthcare professionals, and others can reduce the supply of opioids available for misuse and addiction without denying pain relief to those in need. Continue reading →

United States data for 2009 showed that more individuals died from unintentional drug overdoses (37,485) than from motor vehicle crashes (36,284). These casualties included individuals with histories of extensive drug use as well as drug-naïve experimenters, partly because overdoses are often “mixed,” and anyone consuming a combination of sedating substances, such as alcohol plus medications originally prescribed for pain, sleep, or anxiety, can’t predict their maximum effect or the timing of it. The rise in overdose deaths is linked to increases in availability and misuse of prescription opioid pain medications (such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, morphine, and methadone), which caused more overdose deaths than heroin and cocaine combined. Continue reading →