Background Opioid use disorders are considered a serious public health problem among young adults. Current treatment is limited to long-term opioid substitution therapy, with high relapse rates after discontinuation. This study evaluated the co-administration of memantine to brief buprenorphine pharmacotherapy as a treatment alternative. Methods 13-week double-blind placebo-controlled trial evaluating 80 young adult opioid dependent participants treated with buprenorphine/naloxone 16-4 mg/day and randomized to memantine (15mg or 30mg) or placebo. Primary outcomes were a change in the weekly mean proportion of opioid use, and cumulative abstinence rates after rapid buprenorphine discontinuation on week 9. Results Treatment retention was not significantly different between groups. The memantine 30mg group was significantly less likely to relapse and to use opioids after buprenorphine discontinuation. Among participants abstinent on week 8, those in the memantine 30mg group (81.9%) were significantly less likely to relapse after buprenorphine was discontinued compared to the placebo group (30%) (p < 0.025). Also, the memantine 30mg group had significantly reduced opioid use (mean = 0, SEM ± 0.00) compared to the placebo group (mean = 0.33, SEM ± 0.35; p < 0.004) during the last 2 weeks of study participation. Conclusions Memantine 30mg significantly improved short-term treatment with buprenorphine/naloxone for opioid dependent young adults by reducing relapse and opioid use after buprenorphine discontinuation. Combined short-term treatment with buprenorphine/naloxone may be an effective alternative treatment to long-term methadone or buprenorphine maintenance in young adults.

Background Many studies suggest that dependent smokers have a preference or attentional bias toward smoking cues. The purpose of this study was to test the ability of infrequent non-dependent light smokers to control their eye movements by look away from smoking cues. Poor control in the lightest of smokers would suggest nicotine cue-elicited behavior occurring even prior to nicotine dependency as measured by daily smoking. Methods 17 infrequent non-dependent light smokers and 17 lifetime non-smokers performed an antisaccade task (look away from suddenly appearing cue) on smoking, alcohol, neutral, and dot cues. Results The light smokers, who were confirmed light smokers and non-dependent (MFaegerström Dependency Score= 0.35), were significantly worse at controlling their eye movements to smoking cues relative to both neutral cues (p <.04) and alcohol cues (p<.02). Light smokers made significantly more errors to smoking cues than non-smokers (p< .004). Conclusions These data suggest that prior to developing clinical symptoms of severe dependence or progressing to heavier smoking (e.g., daily smoking), the lightest of smokers are showing a specific deficit in control of nicotine cue-elicited behavior.

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