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Introduction

Endogenous cannabinoids, or endocannabinoids (eCBs), are bioactive lipid molecules that modulate signaling activity of several physiological processes involved in pain, appetite, energy balance, stress/anxiety, immune signaling, and learning and memory. Although understanding of the eCB system has grown in complexity since its discovery by Raphael Mechoulam, it is now widely known...

Introduction

The past 50 years of research supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) have resulted in an accumulation of invaluable data to address the multifaceted problems surrounding underage drinking. Youth use of alcohol remains a pervasive social and public health concern in the United States and a leading cause of disability and mortality during...

Introduction

For the past 25 years, a growing number of U.S. states have been progressively legalizing cannabis markets, first through the early adoption of medical cannabis laws, which enabled the purchase and possession of cannabis for specific medicinal purposes, and then more recently through laws regarding adult (i.e., “recreational”) use of cannabis. As of May 2021, more than 70% of U.S...

Introduction

The establishment of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) in 1971 was bracketed by three seminal papers that laid the groundwork for the field of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) research. In 1968, Lemoine et al.¹ described children with birth defects and neurodevelopmental disorders associated with prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE). This French...

Introduction

Use of alcohol and related problems cause significant global and individual health-related harms, and alcohol use is currently the third-leading cause of preventable death in the United States.^1,2 Alcohol and cannabis are among the most commonly used psychoactive substances in the United States.³ Although concurrent use of alcohol and cannabis (i.e., co-use: defined as using both...

Introduction

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a chronic, relapsing brain disorder, characterized by a compromised ability to control alcohol use despite adverse occupational, social, or health consequences. Results from a 2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that 5% of individuals over age 12 had AUD, affecting 14.5 million people in the United States. Alcohol and cannabis products are...

Introduction

A central feature of substance use disorder (SUD) is the emergence of negative affective or emotional states that influence the motivational properties of misused substances.¹ Individual propensity to experience pain-related negative affect, for example, is hypothesized to be associated with the maintenance of both opioid use disorder (OUD) and alcohol use disorder (AUD). Chronic...

Opioids and alcohol are both effective analgesics under certain pain conditions. However, although the analgesic or pain-relieving properties of opioids are well known, information about the use of alcohol and its potential for misuse in the context of pain management has begun to emerge more recently. Alcohol doses required to alleviate pain are commensurate with binge drinking,¹ defined as...

Introduction

Chronic pain increases the risk for development of alcohol use disorder (AUD). Given that acute alcohol consumption can reduce pain, humans sometimes drink alcohol for relief of pain. Chronic alcohol consumption, however, can increase pain sensitivity during withdrawal and facilitate pain sensitization related to comorbid pain conditions.¹ Ascending and descending nociceptive...

Introduction

The prevalence of alcohol use disorder has been steadily rising around the world in recent years, and reducing the burden of alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD) caused by chronic alcohol consumption has become one of the most important global health issues.^1,2 Excessive alcohol drinking (more than 40 g of pure alcohol per day) is closely associated with increased risk of all-cause...