A new survey of Montana high school students shows 38 percent admitted to binge drinking within the past 30 days, much higher than the national average of 28 percent. Binge drinking is defined as having five or more drinks on one occasion.

Keeping the recent figures in mind, the Addictive and Mental Disorders Division of the Department of Public Health and Human Services will award $9.86 million in federal grant money to various agencies to help reduce substance abuse

A controversial new study says teens who smoke marijuana alone may function better than tobacco smokers and be more social than those abstaining from either substance.

According to researchers at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland, those who smoked only marijuana formed better friendships, did better in studies and were more likely to play sports than those who smoked tobacco only and those who didn't take either substance

Federal agents are urging citizens to dispose of their unused medicine by mixing it with kitty litter.

The purpose of this practice is to control substance abuse by making the medicine unappealing to those who would usually retrieve them and take them for non-medical reasons

In an attempt to treat heroin addicts for overdoses, Massachusetts officials will begin distributing kits to drug users next month. The kits, which contain two doses of a medication called Narcan, will help treat overdoses quickly, safely and without fear of addiction.

Narcan, known generically as naloxone, can easily be administered nasally, without any long-term side effects. A single dose costs about $20

Traumatic life events such as physical or sexual abuse can hasten progress of HIV and AIDS and related death, according to a study published by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine.

It is the first known study during the period of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) to link psychological factors with faster mortality in the disease