Illegal Drugs News

December 24, 2025

Top Headlines

Parkinson’s Breakthrough Changes What We Know About Dopamine

Dec. 22, 2025 A new study shows dopamine isn’t the brain’s movement “gas pedal” after all. Instead of setting speed or strength, it quietly enables movement in the background, much like oil in an engine. When scientists manipulated dopamine during ...

Young Adults Are Using Cannabis to Sleep at Alarming Rates

Dec. 18, 2025 More than 20% of young adults say they use cannabis or alcohol to fall asleep, with cannabis leading by a wide margin. Researchers warn this strategy can backfire, disrupting sleep quality and increasing the risk of long-term sleep and substance-use ...

The Brain Switch That Could Rewrite How We Treat Mental Illness

Dec. 13, 2025 Scientists exploring how the brain responds to stress discovered molecular changes that can influence behavior long after an experience ends. They also identified natural resilience systems that help protect certain individuals from harm. These ...

Stressed Rats Keep Returning to Cannabis and Scientists Know Why

Dec. 11, 2025 Rats with naturally high stress levels were far more likely to self-administer cannabis when given access. Behavioral testing showed that baseline stress hormones were the strongest predictor of cannabis-seeking behavior. Lower cognitive flexibility ...

Scientists Reveal a Hidden Hormone Switch for Learning

Nov. 21, 2025 Researchers uncovered how estrogen subtly reshapes learning by strengthening dopamine reward signals in the brain. Rats learned faster when estrogen levels were high and struggled when the hormone’s activity was blocked. The findings help explain ...

How to Keep Ozempic/Wegovy Weight Loss Without the Nausea

Nov. 18, 2025 Scientists are uncovering how GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy act on brain regions that control hunger, nausea, pleasure-based eating, and thirst. These discoveries may help create treatments that keep the benefits of weight loss while reducing ...

Blocking One Enzyme May Break the Link Between Alcohol and Liver Disease

Nov. 18, 2025 Scientists discovered that alcohol activates a sugar-producing pathway in the body, creating fructose that may reinforce addictive drinking. The enzyme responsible, KHK, appears to drive both alcohol cravings and liver injury. When this enzyme was ...

A Surprising CBD Advance Calms Pain Without Side Effects

Nov. 18, 2025 Researchers developed a new nano-micelle formulation, CBD-IN, that finally gets CBD into the brain effectively. In mice, it relieved neuropathic pain quickly and didn’t cause the usual movement or memory side effects. Surprisingly, the pain relief ...

Breakthrough Brain Discovery Reveals a Natural Way to Relieve Pain

Nov. 4, 2025 Using powerful 7-Tesla brain imaging, researchers mapped how the brainstem manages pain differently across the body. They discovered that distinct regions activate for facial versus limb pain, showing the brain’s built-in precision pain control ...

Scientists Discover a Surprising Way to Quiet the Anxious Mind

Oct. 27, 2025 Generalized anxiety disorder affects millions, often trapping sufferers in cycles of fear and isolation that conventional medications barely relieve. At UCSF, neuroscientist Jennifer Mitchell is testing a pharmaceutical form of LSD called MM120, ...

Weight-loss Drugs Like Ozempic May Also Curb Drug and Alcohol Addiction

Oct. 26, 2025 GLP-1 drugs, originally developed for diabetes and obesity, may also curb addictive behaviors by acting on reward circuits in the brain. Early trials show reductions in alcohol intake, opioid seeking, and nicotine use. Though more research is ...

Your DNA May Shape How You Use Cannabis

Oct. 20, 2025 A major collaboration between UC San Diego and 23andMe identified genes that shape cannabis use behaviors. The study linked the CADM2 and GRM3 genes to cannabis use and connected these patterns to more than 100 traits across mental and physical ...

Latest Headlines

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New Research Reveals How Everyday Cues Secretly Shape Your Habits

Dec. 10, 2025 Researchers uncovered how shifting levels of a brain protein called KCC2 can reshape the way cues become linked with rewards, sometimes making habits form more quickly or more powerfully than ...

Smoking Cannabis With Tobacco May Disrupt the Brain’s “bliss Molecule”

Nov. 15, 2025 Scientists found that people who use both cannabis and tobacco show a distinct brain pattern tied to mood and stress regulation. Their scans revealed ...

Scientists Find Brain Circuit That Traps Alcohol Users in the Vicious Cycle of Addiction

Oct. 7, 2025 Addiction often isn’t about chasing pleasure—it’s about escaping pain. Researchers at Scripps Research have discovered that a tiny brain region ...

A Single Dose of Psilocybin May Rewire the Brain for Lasting Relief

Oct. 2, 2025 Penn researchers found that psilocybin can calm brain circuits tied to pain and mood, easing both physical suffering and emotional distress in animal studies. The compound works in the anterior ...

Why Gen X Women Can’t Stop Eating Ultra-Processed Foods

Sep. 29, 2025 Researchers found that middle-aged adults, especially women, are far more likely to be addicted to ultra-processed foods than older generations. Marketing of diet-focused processed foods in the 1980s ...

Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro Makes Food Taste Sweeter and Saltier, and That May Quiet Cravings

Sep. 16, 2025 Some people taking Ozempic, Wegovy, or Mounjaro notice that food suddenly tastes sweeter or saltier, and this subtle shift in flavor perception ...

Overworked Neurons Burn out and Fuel Parkinson’s Disease

Sep. 3, 2025 Overactivation of dopamine neurons may directly drive their death, explaining why movement-controlling brain cells degenerate in Parkinson’s. Mice with chronically stimulated neurons showed the ...

Study Finds Cannabis Improves Sleep Where Other Drugs Fail

Sep. 2, 2025 A long-term study following insomnia patients treated with cannabis-based medical products revealed sustained improvements in sleep quality, mood, and pain management over 18 months. Most ...

Stronger Weed, Higher Risk? Potent THC Linked to Psychosis and Addiction

Sep. 2, 2025 A sweeping review of nearly 100 studies has raised concerns about the mental health impacts of high-potency cannabis products. Researchers found strong links to psychosis, schizophrenia, and cannabis ...

Cannabis for Coping? Why It May Trigger Paranoia

Aug. 28, 2025 Using cannabis to self-medicate comes with hidden dangers—new research shows these users face higher paranoia and consume more THC. Childhood trauma further amplifies the risks, especially ...

The Hidden Mental Health Danger in Today’s High-THC Cannabis

Aug. 12, 2025 THC levels in cannabis have soared in recent years, raising the risk of psychosis—especially in young, frequent users. Studies reveal a strong connection between cannabis-induced psychosis and ...

People With Eating Disorders Say Cannabis and Psychedelics Help More Than Antidepressants

July 24, 2025 A massive global survey has revealed that people with eating disorders often turn to cannabis and psychedelics like magic mushrooms and LSD to ease their symptoms, rating them more effective than ...

Magic Mushrooms Rewind Aging in Mice—could They Do the Same for Humans?

July 22, 2025 A surprising discovery from Emory University shows that psilocin, the active metabolite of psychedelic mushrooms, can delay cellular aging and extend lifespan. Human cells lived over 50% longer, and ...

Parkinson’s Reversal? One Drug Brings Dying Brain Cells Back to Life

July 3, 2025 Stanford researchers discovered that dialing down an overactive enzyme, LRRK2, can regrow lost cellular “antennae” in key brain cells, restoring vital dopamine communication and neuroprotective ...

Clinical Research on Psychedelics Gets a Boost from New Study

June 3, 2025 As psychedelics gain traction as potential treatments for mental health disorders, an international study stands to improve the rigor and reliability of clinical ...

Cannabis Use Among Seniors Surges 46% in Two Years--Study Reveals

June 7, 2025 Cannabis use among older Americans has climbed dramatically, with 7% of adults 65 and older now reporting recent use. This rise isn't just in numbers but also in diversity older users today are ...

Record High: Study Finds Growing Cannabis Use Among Older Adults

June 2, 2025 Marijuana use among older adults in the US has reached a new high, with 7 percent of adults aged 65 and over who report using it in the past month, according to a recent ...

Whether It's Smoking or Edibles, Marijuana Can Be Bad for Your Heart, Study Suggests

May 28, 2025 A new study finds that chronic cannabis use -- whether it's smoked or consumed in edible form -- is associated with significant cardiovascular ...

Tiny Genetic Switch Found to Control Brain Balance and Behavior

May 22, 2025 Researchers have identified a remarkably small but critical piece of genetic code that helps determine how brain cells connect, communicate, and function. The discovery not only deepens our ...

Scientists Discover New Way the Brain Learns

May 14, 2025 Neuroscientists have discovered that the brain uses a dual system for learning through trial and error. This is the first time a second learning system has been identified, which could help explain ...

Is AI Truly Creative? Turns out Creativity Is in the Eye of the Beholder

May 8, 2025 What makes people think an AI system is creative? New research shows that it depends on how much they see of the creative act. The findings have implications for how we research and design creative ...

Discovery of Dopamine Receptors in a Previously Overlooked Part of the Brain Sheds Light on the Complex Circuitry for Anxiety and Depression

May 7, 2025 Researchers have discovered distinct roles for two dopamine receptors located on nerve cells within the portion of the brain that controls approach vs. avoidance ...

Cannabis Study: Legalization Reduces Problematic Consumption, Particularly Among Certain Individuals

May 7, 2025 Researchers are investigating how the legal supply of cannabis affects consumption and mental health among participants. In a first academic publication, the study team has now reported on the direct ...

Ancient Andes Society Used Hallucinogens to Strengthen Social Order

May 5, 2025 Snuff tubes uncovered at Chavin de Huantar in Peru reveal how leaders used mystical experiences to cement their ...

Study Links Childhood Trauma to Increased Substance Use and Unexpected Effects on Heart Rate and Blood Pressure in Adolescents

Apr. 30, 2025 Childhood trauma significantly increases the likelihood of engaging in harmful alcohol consumption, smoking and illicit drug use, by the age of ...

Mindfulness Therapy Reduces Opioid Craving and Addiction, Study Finds

Apr. 30, 2025 Researchers found that Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE) can help rewire the brain's response to natural healthy pleasure, leading to reduced opioid cravings. The findings suggest ...

Dopamine Signals When a Fear Can Be Forgotten

Apr. 28, 2025 A new study shows how a dopamine circuit between two brain regions enables mice to extinguish fear after a peril has ...

First Synthetic 'Mini Prion' Shows How Protein Misfolding Multiplies

Apr. 28, 2025 Prions transmit their abnormally folded shape onto other proteins. Researchers designed a synthetic fragment of the tau protein that exhibits prion-like behavior. Misfolded tau proteins are the ...

Physical and Psychological Symptoms of Ketamine Abuse Revealed in Research

Apr. 28, 2025 Ketamine addiction is linked to high levels of physical health problems and psychological consequences, with nearly half of those affected not seeking support or treatment, new research has ...

Psychedelics Can Reverse Neuroimmune Interactions That Boost Fear

Apr. 23, 2025 A new study suggests that fear and the immune system are connected in previously unknown ways. Researchers found that the immune system can influence stress and fear behaviors by changing how brain ...