> On Jan 14, 2012, at 9:36 AM, drnanjo wrote: > > With all due respect<snip> there are many good reasons > to avoid using methamphetamine - which make this news really not very > meaningful. > > Does the small cognitive boost justify the other extremely bad things > that the drug does to those who use it? Not sure about that. > Methamphetamine abuse and addiction have consequences that far > outweigh this significance of this small beneficial effect. > > It's good that we keep the research honest and free of political > taint, as much as possible, but those who see drug use as completely > without consequence for society can be equally guilty of spinning > results to push an agenda.
I plead not guilty to that last charge. The point is not to absolve meth of all risk, but to require that its harmful effects be adequately documented. As Hart et al pointed out, there is a tendency for researchers to interpret any differences they find between drug users and controls as harmful and caused by the drug. This is so even when the differences fall within usual norms, when the situation may be complicated by simultaneous use of other drugs, and when the groups are not randomly assigned. Hart et al point to the case of "crack babies" as an instructive lesson in how unjustified eagerness to find harm can instead itself cause harm. For another recent view, see this interview just published in the Chronicle of Higher Education at http://snipurl.com/21pnrn7 Or recall the disturbing case of David Nutt, the respected British neuropsychopharmacologist, who was fired as head of the UK government Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs because he insisted on recommendations regarding drug regulations based on well-founded evidence. For example, see http://snipurl.com/21ptbya Drug research, treatment, and public policy must be based on accurate information, not on myth or on what people want to believe. 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=15326 or send a blank email to leave-15326-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
