National Family Caregivers Month
National Family Caregivers Month is celebrated each November to recognize and honor family caregivers across the country. Family caregivers are defined as family members or someone who is identified as “family” who provide assistance and support to an individual with a chronic health condition – …
Shining a Light on Bereavement and Grief: SAMHSA Recognizes National Grief Awareness Week
Grief, in many ways, is a universal experience. In the United States alone, millions of people experience grief and bereavement each year due to a variety of reasons, including the loss of loved ones or experiencing a traumatic event, illness, disaster, or violence. The number …
More than Winter Blues: Understanding Seasonal Affective Disorder
Meet Analise. Analise has a fulfilling life: a loving family, supportive friends, a meaningful career, financial stability, and optimistic plans for the future. Yet this year, as cooler weather creeps in and days become shorter, Analise finds herself consumed by fatigue, craving sweets, and feeling …
National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day
December is a month of transition, as many communities across our country make the shift from cool, bright autumn days to longer, colder nights. As we busily prepare for upcoming meals and seasonal celebrations with friends and family, it is an apt time to reflect …
Combatting Stigma with Knowledge
Substance Use Disorders (SUDs) are chronic disorders of the brain with a risk of recurrence but from which people can, and do, recover. Like other medical conditions, some people are more susceptible to developing a SUD than others. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental …
More Federal Data on Smoking & Vaping Rates Among American Adults
Recently I described how high school vaping rates reported in the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) are much lower than those reported in the CDC’s National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) (here). Today I review NSDUH adult vaping rates, compared to those …
The Japanese Tobacco Miracle the World is Overlooking
Smokers in Japan consumed 92.4 billion cigarettes in 2023 — less than half as many as they did in 2014. Since vapor products are illegal there, the impressive decline is likely due to the introduction of heat-not-burn tobacco products, which didn’t exist in 2014, but …
Medscape on Tobacco Harm Reduction: Part 1 – Nicotine
Most health professionals are familiar with Medscape, a free resource that describes itself as “the leading online global destination for physicians and healthcare professionals worldwide, offering the latest medical news and expert perspectives; essential point-of-care drug and disease information; and relevant professional education and …
For Women’s History Month, Noting a Historic Misrepresentation of Mouth Cancer in Women
This post honors Women’s History Month by focusing on a subject long-neglected by government-funded cancer investigators: Why do American women who use smokeless tobacco have 10 times the risk for mouth cancer compared with American men who dip and chew tobacco? This question arose …
Tobacco Harm Reduction Is A Life-Saving Policy, No Matter Who Promotes It
Dr. Joanna Cohen recently authored a misleading and factually incorrect commentary on tobacco harm reduction in The Hill. Here is my rebuttal, in bold. Cohen: “So why should we trust cigarette companies to help reduce tobacco use?” No one trusts cigarette companies. That’s why …
