I wrote: > It's been a good week for those who favour certain > recreational drugs which the law forbids.
And Paul Brandon's unimpressed response was: >This is news? Well, yes. Perhaps not to astute members of this list, but certainly to the war-on-drugs establishment, including the readers of the American Medical Association, in whose journal the finding of marijuana not causing lung damage was published (although perhaps that same readership is less likely to stray as far as _Neuropsychopharmacology_ where the results on improved cognition after meth were published). And guess who makes policy? To quote from the meth review (Hart et al, 2012, 37, 586-608): "Hopefully, more caution will be exercised when interpreting these findings than was exercised when results were interpreted from studies of infants prenatally exposed to cocaine, who were erroneously and too readily condemned to a life of learng disabilities, psychological disturbances, and crime...It has been suggested that cognitive impairment seen in methamphetamine users have the potential to compromise their ability to engage in, and benefit from, cognitive-behavioral therapy, arguably the most effective treatment. Findings from this review argue that such concerns are not warranted. Finally...several governments have taken drastic measures...to limit the use of methamphetamine, in part, because of the perceived pernicious effects the drug has on cognitive functioning. In Thailand...In the United States, methamphetamine violations are punished more harshly than those related to other illicit drugs, with the exception of crack cocaine." So if it's not news it's still information that bears repeating. Misinformation as the basis of policy unfortunately has serious consequences. Stephen -------------------------------------------- Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Emeritus Bishop's University Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada e-mail: sblack at ubishops.ca --------------------------------------------- --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=15304 or send a blank email to leave-15304-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
