HealthDay (9/4, Gotkine) reports a study suggests that “initiating cannabis use for self-medication is associated with higher weekly use and increased anxiety, depression, and paranoia.” The researchers “examined reasons for first using cannabis (RFUCs) and their associations with reasons for continuing cannabis use, weekly consumption, and symptoms of paranoia, anxiety, and depressive symptoms using data from the Cannabis&Me survey.” They observed that “weekly THC units were higher with initiation of cannabis for anxiety, for depression, or because family members were using it. Higher paranoia scores were seen in association with RFUC to relieve physical discomfort, anxiety, depression, and minor psychotic symptoms. Associations for anxiety and depression were similar. In contrast, lower paranoia and anxiety were seen for starting for fun or curiosity. Increased depression was seen in association with RFUC for boredom.” The studywas published in BMJ Mental Health.

Related Links:

— “Self-Medication With Cannabis Linked to Anxiety, Depression, Paranoia,” Elana Gotkine, HealthDay, September 4, 2025

HealthDay (9/3, Thompson) reports a new study published in Health Affairs found that “only 2 in 5 retail pharmacies carried buprenorphine,” one of the “most effective medications for treating opioid addiction,” in 2023. The researchers “analyzed buprenorphine claims logged between 2017 and 2023 in a database that covers 93% of U.S. retail prescription claims. Results showed that buprenorphine was available at only 39% of U.S. pharmacies in 2023, up from 33% in 2017.” Furthermore, “pharmacies in minority neighborhoods are even less likely to have buprenorphine on hand, results showed.” Rural counties were also “persistently more likely to carry buprenorphine, as well as counties with high rates of opioid overdose deaths. But in 73 hard-hit rural counties, less than 25% of pharmacies carried buprenorphine, and another 25 counties lacked a pharmacy altogether.”

Related Links:

— “It’s Still Tough to Find a Key Anti-Opioid Treatment at U.S. Pharmacies,” Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, September 3, 2025

HealthDay (9/2, Gotkine) reports new research shows that “from 2021 to 2024, 59.0 percent of overdose deaths involved stimulants.” The researchers “found that during January 2021 to June 2024, 59.0 percent of overdose deaths involved stimulants: 43.1 and 15.9 percent co-involved stimulants and opioids and involved stimulants and no opioids, respectively.

Compared with those who died of overdoses involving stimulants and opioids, people who died of overdoses involving stimulants and no opioids were older (aged 45 years and older: 66.5 versus 44.2 percent) and more often had a history of cardiovascular disease (38.7 versus 21.2 percent).”

The research also highlights that from 2018 to 2023, “there was an increase in stimulant-involved overdose death rates,” with increases “largest among non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native persons and among non-Hispanic Black or African American persons.” The research was published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Related Links:

— “59.0 Percent of Overdose Deaths Involved Stimulants in 2021 to 2024,” Elana Gotkine, HealthDay, September 2, 2025

HealthDay (9/2, Mundell) reports that even though the “expert consensus on the treatment of preschoolers diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder” is that behavioral therapies should be tried six months prior to prescribing medications, a study published in JAMA Network Open “found this guideline was followed in only 14.1% of U.S. cases involving children ages 3 to 5.”

The researchers “tracked the treatment of more than 9,700 kids ages 3, 4 and 5 who were diagnosed with ADHD at primary care clinics run by eight academic medical centers nationwide. Patients were seen at least twice by doctors during a six-month period. The result: More than 42% of the kids received a prescription for an ADHD medication within a month of their diagnosis, contrary to established guidelines.” They observed that “14.1% got medications after the recommended six months of behavioral therapy.”

Related Links:

— “ADHD Drugs Often Prescribed Too Early To Preschoolers,” Ernie Mundell, HealthDay, September 2, 2025

CNN (9/2, Rogers ) reports that “schizophrenia is simultaneously one of the most famous mental illnesses and one of the most misunderstood.” According to the APA, schizophrenia “is a chronic brain disorder often marked by psychosis, delusions, hallucinations, lack of motivation, and disorganized thinking and speech” that affects “0.32% of the global population, or around 24 million people.” The belief that “schizophrenia means a split mind has contributed to a widespread belief in more formal contexts that the condition is like dissociative identity disorder.”

Such misconceptions explain why schizophrenia is one of the most heavily stigmatized mental health disorders. Some stereotypes “are based in true symptoms that some patients experience,” but researchers believe “they aren’t reflective of all patients and can prevent a holistic, compassionate view of schizophrenia as a treatable disorder that’s usually more harmful to the patient than to others.” Some experts also support “changing the name of this chronic brain disorder.”

Related Links:

— “Why schizophrenia may be ‘the most devastating of mental illnesses’,” Kristen Rogers, CNN, September 2, 2025