Events and announcements 

• Identifying the cannabis prevention education and intervention needs of Minnesota schools (University of Minnesota Cannabis Research Center) - May 22 from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. 

• Boots on the ground: Community-based programming to reduce stigma and racial disparities in access to opioid use disorder services (Twin Cities Recovery Project) - May 23 from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

• Nicotine-free products: An overview (Public Health Law Center at Mitchell Hamline School of Law) - May 29 from 1 to 1:30 p.m. 

• The adolescent brain, trauma and substance use (Hazelden Betty Ford) - Jun. 11 from noon to 1 p.m. 

• Federal cuts threaten addiction programs nationwide (Partnership to End Addiction) 

New resources! 

• The University of Minnesota Cannabis Research Center (CRC) released an interactive tool for cannabis, alcohol, and tobacco (Mapping tool: Self-reported cannabis use by Minnesota high school students, 2022) 

• Messages to promote substance-free pregnancies and prevent FASDs: A communication guide for local health departments (NACCHO & Montana State University) 

Data and research 

• Trends in suspected fentanyl-involved nonfatal overdose emergency department visits, by age group, sex, and race and ethnicity — United States, October 2020–March 2024 (MMWR) 

• Overdose involving medetomidine mixed with opioids — Chicago, Illinois, May 2024 (MMWR) 

• Tobacco-related clinical services and tobacco-free policies in behavioral health treatment faciliites — United States, 2023 (MMWR) 

• Notes from the field: Severe medetomidine withdrawal syndrome in patients using illegally manufactured opioid — Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, October 2024–March 2025 (MMWR) 

• Spatiotemporal analysis of substance use disorder mortality in the United States: An observational study of emerging hotspots and vulnerable populations (2005–2020) (The Lancet Regional Health – Americas) 

• Trends in U.S. e-cigarette sales measured in milligrams of nicotine, 2019–2024 (Science Direct) 

• E-cigarette and cannabis use among current and recently quit smokers: Co-use and co-cessation (Addictive Behaviors Reports) 

• Assessing perceptions and behaviors related to vaping nicotine: The Nicotine Addiction Perceptions scale (Tobacco Use Insights) 

• Effects of legal access versus illegal market cannabis on use and mental health: A randomized controlled trial (Addiction) 

• Prenatal cannabis use and neonatal outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysis (JAMA Pediatrics) 

• Is childhood adversity before age 5 associated with adolescent and young adult substance use? Findings from a U.S. prospective cohort study (Substance Use & Misuse) 

• Oral nicotine pouches: Rising popularity and state of the science (Public Health Reports) 

• The impact of news photographs on drug-related stigma: A randomized message testing experiment in a national sample of US adults (Preventive Medicine) 

Alcohol 

• Women’s brains on alcohol: Insight into the science of sex-based risks (Yale School of Medicine) 

• Social drinking also a well-worn path to alcohol use disorder (University of Illinois) 

• Minnesota Senate OKs liquor bill with ‘social districts’ provision (Pioneer Press) 

• Amid federal cuts to alcohol prevention programs, US Alcohol Policy Alliance (USAPA) releases media guidelines on reporting the truth about alcohol (US Alcohol Policy Alliance) 

• New law requires Alaska businesses selling alcohol to post cancer warning (Alaska Public Media) 

Cannabis 

• Office of Cannabis Management sets June 5 lottery for some licenses (KTSP) 

• Minneapolis moves to ban cannabis use in city parks (Minnesota Cannabis Information) 

• Legalizing marijuana led to an increase in use—but a decrease in problematic misuse, American Medical Association study shows (Marijuana Moment) 

• In Colorado, smoking, ingesting cannabis behind the wheel counts as DUI (CBS News) 

• New bill would ease rules on researching cannabis and other Schedule I drugs (The Guardian) 

Opioids 

• Lifesaving opioid addiction meds are rarely started after emergency visits for overdose (Medical Xpress) 

• Study finds critical gaps in narcan awareness, possession among US adults (Medical Xpress) 

• Americans' use of illicit opioids is higher than previously reported (RAND Corporation) 

• FDA issues warning against "gas station heroin" tianeptine (CBS News) 

Commercial tobacco and e-cigarettes 

• CDC closing of stop-smoking office seen as 'gift to tobacco industry' (Stat News) 

• New grant will evaluate strategies to help rural Americans break free from cigarette smoking (University of Minnesota School of Public Health) 

• Kicking industry butts: Santa Cruz County adopts first-in-the-nation "filtered" cigarette sales ban (Public Health Law Center at Mitchell Hamline School of Law) 

• Shifting nicotine product preferences observed in US high school students (Medical Xpress) 

Psychedelic medicine 

• Psychedelics may reset brain-immune link driving fear and anxiety (Neuroscience News) 

• Psilocybin shows promise for Parkinson’s mood and motor symptoms (Neuroscience News) 

• Psychedelics could 'rewire' the brain to reduce alcohol consumption (Science Alert) 

• Psychedelics may ‘reset’ the brains of people with depression and anxiety (VICE) 

Other drugs 

• Without federal action, states wrestle with kratom regulation (KFF Health News) 

• Nothing to laugh about: Nitrous oxide misuse and the need for a public health response (Network for Public Health Law) 

• Medetomidine increasingly in drug supply (Partnership to End Addiction)