Addiction Audio

In this episode, Dr Tsen Vei Lim talks to Dr Janaka Kosgolla and Professor Doug Smith. Janaka is an assistant research scientist and Doug is a professor, both from the School of Social Work at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the United States. The interview covers Janaka and Doug’s research article on joint associations of recovery capital and polygenic risk with electronic health r...

In this episode, Dr Annika Theodoulou speaks to Dr Yang-Chieh Brian Chen, a psychiatric resident at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, US. The interview covers Brian’s research article on all-cause and cause-specific mortality in gambling disorder using evidence from a nation-wide matched and sibling cohort study in Taiwan. A background on gambling disorder [01:09] All-cause...

In this episode, Dr Elle Wadsworth talks to Dr Abi Stevely, a Research Fellow at the Sheffield Addictions Research Group in the UK. The interview covers Abi’s article on the price of alcohol-free and low-alcohol drinks compared to regular-strength drinks using sales data in Great Britain. The term ‘No/lo’ refers to alcohol free (No) and low alcohol (Lo) drinks. What are alcohol-free and low alcoho...

In this episode, Dr Tsen Vei Lim talks to Dr Martine Skumlien and Professor Valentina Lorenzetti. Martine is a research fellow at King’s College London in the UK and Valentina is a professor at the Australian Catholic University in Australia. The interview covers Martine and Valentina’s research article on brain reward function in young people with cannabis use disorder. The idea that the brain re...

In this episode, Dr Elle Wadsworth talks to Patrick Kelly, a doctoral candidate at Brown University School of Public Health in the US. The interview covers Patrick’s article on clinicians' and people who use drugs' perspectives on artificial intelligence in addiction medicine. What is artificial intelligence and how has artificial intelligence been used in the field of addiction so far [01:18] The...

In this episode, Dr Tsen Vei Lim talks to Dr Ariel (Ari) Roxburgh. Ari is a Clinical Psychologist and addiction researcher at Monash University and Turning Point, Australia. The interview covers Ari’s review on controlled breathing and heart rate variability biofeedback for drug use-related outcomes. Please note that ‘HRVB’ used in the recording stands for heart rate variability biofeedback. Why A...

In this episode, Dr Tsen Vei Lim talks to Dr Emese Kroon. Emese is a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Substance Use and Addiction Research at the Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The interview covers Emese’s article on associations of cannabis use with cognitive functioning in individuals with a cannabis use disorder, looking at the moderating role of nicotine. Why nicotin...

In this episode, Dr Annika Theodoulou speaks to Eleanor Bray, a research associate at the University of East Anglia, UK. The interview covers Eleanor’s research article covering a content analysis of illicit vape messaging in young people's information sources. Illicit vaping and why it is an important issue in the UK [01:08] The Tobacco and Vapes Bill in the UK [03:21] How social media platforms...

In this episode, Dr Elle Wadsworth talks to Dr Tobias (Toby) Atkin, psychiatrist and a research fellow in Addiction Psychiatry at Columbia University in the US. The interview covers Toby’s opinion and debate piece on redefining success in cannabis use disorder treatment. [There are some light knocks/clicks in this episode – we apologise for any disruption!] The motivation behind Toby’s opinion and...

In this episode, Dr Tsen Vei Lim talks to Sinclair Carr and Dr Jürgen Rehm. Sinclair is a PhD candidate at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in the US, and Jürgen is a Senior Scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Canada. The interview covers Sinclair and Jürgen’s updated review of the relationship between dimensions of alcohol consumption and the burden of disease....

In this episode, Dr Elle Wadsworth talks to Dr Louise Marryat, a senior research fellow at the University of Glasgow, Scotland. The interview covers Louise’s systematic review on prenatal opioid exposure, and health, social and educational outcomes for school-aged children. The motivation behind Louise’s systematic review [00:50] The current evidence surrounding prenatal opioid exposure and early...

In this episode, Dr Tsen Vei Lim talks to Dr Anastasia Demina, an addiction physician and researcher at the Dijon Bourgogne University Hospital and Université Bourgogne Europe, France.  The interview covers Anastasia’s randomised controlled triple-blind trial on the efficacy and safety of transcranial direct current stimulation in alcohol use disorder. The current available treatments for alc...

In this episode, Dr Elle Wadsworth talks to Annette Nugteren-van Lonkhuyzen, a PhD student and toxicologist at the Dutch National Poisons Information Centre in Utrecht, the Netherlands. The interview covers Annette’s research article examining trends in new psychoactive substance (NPS) poisonings in the Netherlands over a 14-year period. The definition of new psychoactive substances [01:05] The wi...

In this episode, Dr Elle Wadsworth talks to Professor Rasmon Kalayasiri, Head of the Department of Psychiatry at the Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. The interview covers Rasmon’s editorial that asks the question: Can Thailand replace a commercialised cannabis market for adult use with a medical prescription model?   Thailand’s cannabis policy [01:15] Thailand’s legal...

In this episode, Dr Elle Wadsworth talks to Dr Nikolay Lunchenkov, medical doctor, a global health specialist, and a doctoral candidate in Global Health at the Technical University of Munich, Germany. The interview covers Nikolay’s research article analysing chemsex trajectories among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men in Almaty, Kazakhstan. What is chemsex? [01:00] The wider contex...

In this episode, Dr Elle Wadsworth talks to Pablo Gonzalez Nieto, a harm reduction provider, drug checking technician, and research assistant at Substance Drug Checking within the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research, Canada. The interview covers Pablo’s research article on drug sellers’ use of a drug checking service amid the overdose crisis in British Columbia, Canada. We apologise for...

In this episode, Dr Tsen Vei Lim talks to Drs Grant Comstock and Ryan Feldman. Grant is an Assistant Professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin and Associate Medical Director of the Wisconsin Poison Center and Ryan is a clinical toxicologist, emergency medicine pharmacist, and Clinical Associate Professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin. The interview covers Grant and Ryan’s article examini...

In this episode, Dr Elle Wadsworth talks to Dr Tesfa Yimer, a postdoctoral researcher at the National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research, The University of Queensland, Australia. The interview covers Tesfa’s research article taking a regional perspective on substance use related problems in Ethiopia. The importance of examining drug-related problems in Ethiopia [01:00] Commonly consumed drugs...

In this episode, Dr Elle Wadsworth talks to Dr Amy Peacock, an Associate Professor and Deputy Director of the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, and Dr Krista Siefried, a Clinical Research Lead and Deputy Director, of the National Centre for Clinical Research on Emerging Drugs at the University of New South Wales, Australia. The interview covers two research...

In this episode, Annika Theodoulou speaks to Dr Vera Buss, a Senior Research Fellow at University College London, and Professor Leonie Brose, a Professor of Addictions & Public Health at King's College London, UK. The interview covers Vera and Leonie’s research article examining the association between the national ‘Swap to Stop’ programme offering free vapes for smoking cessation and quit att...

In this episode, Dr Elle Wadsworth talks to Dr Damon Morris, a Research Fellow in the Sheffield Addictions Research Group, School of Medicine and Population Health, at the University of Sheffield, UK. The interview covers Damon’s research article modelling the economic effects of reducing the consumption of unhealthy commodities. The drive to conduct this study [01:30] The economic outputs of inte...

In this episode, Dr Tsen Vei Lim talks to Dr Philip Newall, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Bristol, UK. The interview covers Philip’s opinion and debate article on sludge, dark patterns and dark nudges: a taxonomy of online gambling platforms’ deceptive design features. The rationale behind Philip’s article [01:16] A background on the policy landscape associated with online gambling platfo...

In this episode, Dr Tsen Vei Lim talks to Igor Marchetti, an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Sciences at the University of Florence, Italy. The interview covers Igor’s research article that tests which personality traits are necessary conditions for problematic alcohol use, with insights from a 23-year longitudinal study. Why is understanding personality important for alcohol use?...

In this episode, Dr Elle Wadsworth talks to Dr Amy Peacock, an Associate Professor and Deputy Director of the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, and Dr Monica Barratt, an Associate Professor at Australia's National Drug Research Institute, Curtin University. The interview covers Amy and Monica’s research article examining the availability of nitazenes via cry...

In this episode, Dr Tsen Vei Lim talks to Samatha Salim, a PhD candidate, and Dr Benjamin Riordan, a research fellow, both at the Centre for Alcohol policy Research at La Trobe University, Australia. The interview covers Samatha and Benjamin’s article comparing the accuracy of artificial intelligence (AI) models to detect alcohol in video images. What are AI models? [01:18] The context of why this...