NIDA Research Series to Shed Light on Opioid, Marijuana, and Tobacco Use

From discussions on the current opioid crisis to unconventional technology to treat substance use disorders (SUD), the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) will be unlocking several aspects of substance addiction at the 2016 Annual Meeting.

David Hathcox

“Although all aspects of substance use are important,” NIDA Director Nora Volkow, M.D., told Psychiatric News, “this year we are preparing a research series focusing on very high priority areas related to substance abuse.” The most notable topics, she said, are the prescription opioid and heroin epidemic, marijuana, and tobacco.

The four-day series will begin Saturday, May 14, with the session “Biological Underpinnings of Comorbid Psychiatric and Substance Use Disorders: How Research Can Inform Diagnosis and Treatment.” This will be followed by a session chaired by Volkow titled “Marijuana: Assessing Its Risks in a Changing Environment,” which will focus on possible outcomes stemming from cannabis legislation in some states that has allowed the drug to be more available for use, either medicinally or recreationally.

Sunday, May 15, will begin with a session on combating the opioid epidemic—which contributed to approximately 24,000 deaths in the United States in 2013, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Phillip Coffin, M.D., M.I.A., director of Substance Use Research in the Center for Public Health Research at the San Francisco Department of Public Health, will discuss the use and effectiveness of intranasal naloxone as an antidote to reverse opioid overdose, and Thomas Jenkins, the executive vice president and chief scientific officer of Elysium Therapeutics, will describe the development of novel, abuse-deterrent opioids.

That same day, NIDA will sponsor a workshop to help psychiatrists lay out a framework for the prevention and screening of marijuana use among pediatric patients.

Three sessions will be held Monday, May 16, starting with a morning discussion chaired by NIDA Deputy Director Wilson Compton, M.D., titled “New Issues in Understanding and Addressing Tobacco Use and Mental Illness.” The session will focus on usage patterns and potential harms of highly popularized electronic cigarettes and integrated treatment that will effectively address both tobacco addiction and psychiatric illness.

“Although usage rates [for tobacco] have decreased dramatically, the prevalence of smoking among people with psychiatric conditions remains extremely high, contributing to morbidity and mortality in these patients,” said Volkow. “Prevention and intervention efforts for smoking that have worked in the general population have not been as effective in people with psychiatric disorders, so we must think of different ways to address the issue [of smoking] in psychiatric patients.”

Monday afternoon will include a symposium on properly treating chronic pain in patients with opioid use disorder, as well as a symposium sponsored by NIDA’s Division of Therapeutics and Medical Consequences on new developments and technologies—such as vaccines and monoclonal antibodies—to treat substance use disorder and overdose. The NIDA research track series will conclude on Tuesday, May 17, with “Teen Misuse and Abuse of Prescription Drugs: Pathways to Drug Addiction.”

“Rates for comorbid substance use disorders in patients with psychiatric disorders are extremely high. If psychiatrists do not know how to recognize substance use disorders, they cannot effectively treat patients,” said Volkow.

“The importance of these sessions is to make all attendees aware of the interventions and research developments that can eventually be used to help their patients. Everyone is welcome to attend these sessions.” ■