Nancy-- I agree-- 'Speed kills' is also old news. I was referring specifically to cannabis. I also agree that the 'war on drugs' approach is clearly not working (except to drive up prices and keep drug dealers in business). Some sort of decriminalization (not necessarily legalization) would be an improvement.
On Jan 14, 2012, at 9:36 AM, drnanjo wrote: With all due respect, although pot is admittedly benign (more so than alcohol, unless used in combination with it) and cigarettes (far less addictive, as evidenced by the number of people who give it up easily after youth, contrast that with tobacco) 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. PS. I am in favor of legalizing all drugs and finding non-punitive ways to control and discourage. I am not pro-drug war. I am pro-health. Nancy Melucci Long Beach City College Long Beach CA -----Original Message----- From: sblack <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Sent: Sat, Jan 14, 2012 6:51 am Subject: [tips] Good news for illegal drug users 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<http://ubishops.ca> --------------------------------------------- --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=12993.aba36cc3760e0b1c6a655f019a68b878&n=T&l=tips&o=15304 or send a blank email to leave-15304-12993.aba36cc3760e0b1c6a655f019a68b...@fsulist.frostburg.edu<mailto:leave-15304-12993.aba36cc3760e0b1c6a655f019a68b...@fsulist.frostburg.edu> --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13438.3b5166ef147b143fedd04b1c4a64900b&n=T&l=tips&o=15306 (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) or send a blank email to leave-15306-13438.3b5166ef147b143fedd04b1c4a649...@fsulist.frostburg.edu<mailto:leave-15306-13438.3b5166ef147b143fedd04b1c4a649...@fsulist.frostburg.edu> Paul Brandon Emeritus Professor of Psychology Minnesota State University, Mankato [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> --- 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=15308 or send a blank email to leave-15308-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
