The idea of “gateway drugs” has been a subject of controversy and ridicule for decades. It’s an argument aimed often at people who use marijuana and are told that pot leads to the use of “harder” drugs. It has also been a handy weapon to aim at teenagers who smoke tobacco. A new study suggests that researchers have found the first chemical evidence that there may be something to the theory.  An epidemiologist and a neurobiologist at Columbia University led a team that found “epigenetic” changes in mice plied with nicotine. Those mice were far more likely to exhibit addictive behavior when given cocaine than were those not exposed to nicotine.

As is often the case with these sorts of study, the article does not make clear how much nicotine the mice were exposed to — were they massive doses or proportionate to a human smoker? Still, the article — from Nature.com — makes for interesting reading.

An article in the Wall Street Journal provides a good response to those who insist that “moderate” alcohol consumption is good for you. See the article here . While the article acknowledge some health benefits, a new study points out that there are also negative effects, including an increased chance of cancer of the breast, liver, colon, pancreas, mouth, larynx and esophagus. Even lung cancer risks are increased whether you smoke or not. Among the findings: the risk of breast cancer starts to rise with as few as 3 drinks a week.

“The situation is somewhat similar to tobacco a few decades ago,” with drinking deeply rooted in social habits and promoted in advertising and movies, says Paolo Boffetta, director of the Institute for Translational Epidemiology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York.

The whole article is worth a read.

Here’s part of a piece from an HIV/AIDS blog with information that we’re all probably vaguely aware of, but which bears repeating:

While the popularity of various illegal substances rises and falls, alcohol consistently remains the granddaddy of recreational drugs. New forms of alcoholic drinks began appearing in the 1980s, first with wine coolers and then flavored alcoholic beverages (that’s FAB, for short) and energy drinks. They have gained popularity, especially among youth. Now, just months after the FDA urged the removal of caffeine from alcoholic drinks such as Four Loko, beverage companies are once again shape-shifting their fruity-tasting concoctions and they’re literally bigger than ever: they’ve been supersized. The new packaging, still largely targeting young (and often underage) drinkers, features a 23.5 ounce can with a 12% alcohol content. That’s equivalent to four or five beers (a fact that marketers of the product recently agreed to change Four Loko’s label to reflect). They’re cheap, accessible, and highly potent.

Why is this a concern? The numbers tell the story. 10.7 million underage youth drink alcohol, and about 70% of those youth binge drink, resulting in harmful physical consequences, poor judgment, lower inhibitions, and an abundance of high-risk sexual behaviors. And the concerns extend beyond youth. Excessive consumption of alcohol is a significant health concern for everyone,