About 3.1 million young Americans between the ages of 12-25 have used cough and cold medicine to get high, according to the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

"While increasing attention has been paid to the public health risk of prescription drug abuse, we also need to be aware of the growing dangers of misuse of over-the-counter cough and cold medications, especially among young people," said SAMHSA head Terry Cline

Newly homeless youth are likelier to engage in risky sexual behavior if they stay in nonfamily settings because they lack supervision and social support, a new study shows.

Researchers defined homeless youth as those who have been away from home for a period between one day and six months. Homeless settings include friends' homes, abandoned buildings or the streets

Researchers from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston are conducting clinical trials on a cocaine vaccine that they have developed. The vaccine stimulates the body's immune system to attack cocaine when the prohibited drug is taken in. The end result is that real cocaine will lack the kick that drug dependents seek.

The cocaine vaccine may be a possible solution for people hooked on the substance. Dr. Tom Kosten and his wife Therese are at the forefront of the scientific breakthrough

Folklore surrounding pregnancy persists in modern America despite advances in medical interventions.

Many Americans, for example, believe maternal thoughts and actions contribute to adverse fetal outcomes, says Jonathan Schaffir, a clinical assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Ohio State University

Body parts donated by drug addicts are now being used in body transplants following a serious shortage of organs.

At least 450 body parts from donors who have drug abuse history have been used by transplant surgeons who have been forced by such circumstances between 2002 and 2007, BBC News reported. The quality of these organs and risks to infections may have been affected, it added