Lead: 2025 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH)Lead: 2025 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH)
This Week in Addiction Medicine from ASAM
A concise news-style briefing shares recent data on substance use trends, mental health, overdose risks, and emerging interventions across diverse populations. It focuses on evidence from multiple studies to highlight current challenges and potential strategies in addiction medicine.
7:02•4 Aug 2026
Shifting Trends in Addiction: Data, Risks, and Promising Interventions
Episode Overview
- Youth show declining rates of nicotine, alcohol, marijuana use, binge drinking, substance use disorders, and suicidality, while adults 26+ show increases in several substance use indicators and suicide measures.
- Heavy alcohol consumption is associated with lower cognitive function, with no clear evidence of benefit at low or moderate drinking levels.
- Alcohol use, binge drinking, and heavy drinking during pregnancy have increased over time, raising concern because no amount of alcohol is established as safe in pregnancy.
- Prescription cap policies are linked to more treatment gaps for medications for opioid use disorder, which may reflect reduced re-engagement in care.
- Community environmental interventions and targeted use of naltrexone show potential for reducing opioid overdose risks in vulnerable populations.
“"These findings highlight the importance of ensuring a lifespan approach to suicide prevention and mental health promotion and treatment initiatives."”
What are the common struggles and victories in addiction recovery? This weekly briefing from "This Week in Addiction Medicine" gives you a fast, research-focused snapshot of how substance use and related harms are shifting across the United States. Hosted in a concise news style, the episode centres on the 2025 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, highlighting mixed patterns in substance use.
You’ll hear that adolescents and young adults are showing "broad declines across past month nicotine, alcohol, and marijuana use, and binge drinking" and reduced rates of substance use disorders and suicidality. At the same time, adults aged 26 and over are seeing increases in nicotine vaping, marijuana use, hallucinogen use, and marijuana use disorder, plus rising suicide indicators.
The host underscores the need for "a lifespan approach to suicide prevention and mental health promotion and treatment initiatives." The episode then runs through several key studies, summarising what clinicians, policy makers, and anyone interested in addiction medicine might want to know. There’s a dose–response meta-analysis on alcohol and cognitive function showing that heavy intake (over 28 grams per day) is linked with lower cognitive performance, with no clear protective effect at low or moderate levels.
You’ll also hear worrying data on increasing alcohol use, binge drinking, and heavy drinking during pregnancy. Further segments look at continuity of medications for opioid use disorder under Medicaid prescription caps, high rates of insomnia among people with opioid use disorder and its link to relapse and overdose, and how severe floods can raise long-term opioid overdose mortality through disrupted services and unsafe drug use conditions.
Community-level solutions get attention too, with neighbourhood cleanups and abandoned house remediation associated with reductions in overdose deaths, and a small case series suggesting naltrexone may help protect people who use cocaine from fentanyl-related overdoses. If you’re short on time but want evidence-based updates on addiction trends and treatment challenges, this briefing might be exactly what you’re after.
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