would permit Americans to lawfully consume and inject drugs like heroin under the supervision of trained medical staff.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an average of 130 Americans die every day from an opioid overdose

The Lancet, there were 35% less overdose deaths within 500 meters of the facility 3 years after its establishment, while areas outside that radius only reduced by 9% (Marshall 1424). So while these sites certainly save lives of those who inject inside the facilities, they also have an effect on overdose rates in the surrounding area, both of which would be beneficial to communities most impacted by opioid addiction

Illicit drug injection is associated with significant health and social consequences for drug users, their families and communities. The consequences include injection-related infections, overdose, bloodborne disease transmission, exposure to discarded needles, violence, property crime and sex trade.

continuing unsafe injection practices2 and the health-related consequences3 that are occurring in a cohort of IDUs in Vancouver despite the availability of a large needle-exchange program

Since offering a range of programs to address problems associated with illicit drug use, Switzerland and Germany have observed declines in HIV infection rates, drug-related overdoses and crime in the last decade

Aside from the direct pharmacological effects of the drug on brain development, individual factors contribute tremendously to the complexity of the relationship between adolescent cannabis exposure and addiction risk (Fig. 6).

Like heroin and cocaine during the 20th century, many people initially dismissed its potential for addiction and its consequences for users, their families and society at large

In both diagnostic systems, the pathological condition of cannabis dependence is defined by such symptoms as increased tolerance, withdrawal, loss of control, inability to cut down or stop, preoccupation with cannabis in terms of time spent using it or giving up other activities and continued use despite persistent medical or psychological problems that are probably caused by it

This table also illustrates that adolescent cannabis users aged 12–17 are 3.21 times more likely than adults (26 or older) to experience one or more of these symptoms and problems, 3.07 times more likely to experience two or more and 3.44 times more likely to experience three or more.

Early initiation and regular adolescent use have been identified as particular risk factors for later problematic cannabis (and other drug) use, impaired mental health, delinquency, lower educational achievement, risky sexual behaviour and criminal offending in a range of studies.

Gambling disorder is a recognised mental health condition, a form of addiction that can have a serious impact on the lives of individuals and their families.

“a marked lack of dedicated explicit independent funding for research into Gambling Disorder”.

at present, funds for gambling research in the UK are collected by a voluntary levy on companies, and these funds are then administered through a specific organisation whose existence is dependent on this industry funding.

Gambling industry actors are able to build relationships with officials in charge of allocating gambling proceeds and have their say on how they are used

gambling problem in such a manner that ensures the continuous flow of funds

when researchers and treatment professionals also have an interest in a continuous flow of gambling proceeds, it is understandable that those with gambling problems feel increasingly isolated and hopeless

novel public health policy that seeks to reduce the adverse public health consequences of alcohol consumption

Alcohol taxation has long been used as a method to address health and social concerns as well as raise government revenue

Other forms of floor pricing that prevent the sale of very cheap alcohol have been successfully elsewhere

The U.S. markets for both nicotine- and THC-containing vaping products have dramatically expanded.

Surgeons, specifically, have been subject to scrutiny as 'adequate treatment' of post-surgical pain is poorly defined and data suggest that many patients receive much larger opioid prescriptions than needed. The consequences of overprescribing include addiction and misuse, dispersion of opioids into the community, and possible potentiation of illicit drug/heroin use.

This problem is likely to require not one, but several potential solutions to reverse its trajectory