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About Addiction: Drug use and crime, increasing marijuana use, cravings and brain function
Check out the newest links about addiction. Leave us your feedback! Drug use & Crime Huffington Post: Over 5,000 lives were taken in drug related crimes in Mexico in the past year. Drug trade related violence is linked directly to the rising levels of drug use worldwide. Marijuana use Bloomberg Businessweek: For the first time…
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Drugs and Pregnancy Part II: Cigarettes and Weed
We’ve already covered the issue of drinking alcohol while pregnant. Now it’s time for smoking. When a pregnant mother smokes cigarettes, nicotine and carbon monoxide pass across the placental barrier. This disrupts the normal transfer of oxygen and nutrients to the developing fetus, harming its development. Smoking in pregnancy It’s been estimated that nearly 1…
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The benefits of marijuana: Things are far from all bad for weed
Marijuana can certainly be beneficial. It’s true that essentially every drug has some abuse liability. However, somewhere in the vicinity of 85% of those who try any given drug will never develop abuse or addiction problems (yes there are probably variations based on specific drugs, but that’s a good estimate). As we all know, marijuana is a…
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Weeding out your significant other? The effect of marijuana on relationships
contributing co-author: Gacia Tachejian Being young involves quite a bit of exciting change. There’s the end of high-school, the start of college and some measure of independence, and a whole slew of new experiences. A recent study conducted by Judith Brooks at NYU School of Medicine has revealed that one of those experiences, smoking marijuana…
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Kids perceive regular marijuana use less risky – Some tips.
The pendulum swings again. After years of decreases in use and in perceptions about use, a recent report indicates that high-school kids are once again beginning to use , and consider less risky the use of, marijuana. The movement is no doubt part of a semi-regular cycle. After lack of awareness about prescription drugs and…
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California prison problems: Drug use policy gone awry
Originally posted on Takepart: I’ve been aware of the unjust nature of our prison system for a while, but a recent NPR story I heard in the car brought the issue front and center again. This piece is a combination summary and extension of that story. Did you know that the US makes up 5%…
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Take Charge of your Life: Another adolescent substance abuse prevention program that doesn’t work.
In a previous post we talked about the ineffectiveness of the school-based substance abuse prevention program called D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education). We reported data from a meta-analysis of 11 studies which showed no significant effect of D.A.R.E. in reducing drug use. A recently published study examined the effectiveness of another school-based program called Take…
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Clubs, drugs, and dancing – Crystal meth, and club drug use
Anyone involved with the dance/rave/club culture knows that drugs often go hand in hand with music and dancing. Club drugs, as well as alcohol and drug abuse, are often rampant in the social groups full of excited club goers. Previous academic studies supported this notion but could not distinguish if the drug use took place…
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More CPDD Addiction research: Addiction, exercise, recovery!
Okay, this is probably the last addiction research update I will give focusing on the Reno conference. The rest of the stuff I learned will be incorporated into future posts. I’ve written before about the relationship between exercise and recovery (see here) and I will surely write more since for me, it was a big…