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Correlation, causation, and association – What does it all mean???
A comment posted by a reader on a post reprimanded me for suggesting that marijuana caused relationships to go bad. In this instance the reader was mistaken, as I had specifically used the word “associated”, but the comment made me think that maybe I should explain the differences between correlation, causation, and association. I’m a…
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Shame on me – Stigma and addiction in treatment
I keep hearing that back in the old days of addiction treatment, shame was the main motivating factor used by rehab counselors. Everyone admits that it proved to be a horrible motivator. It simply didn’t work! With all the advances in research into addiction, that must have changed, right? I don’t think so. I see…
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About Addiction: Smoking, Drugs, Drinking and Cancer
New links for interesting articles about addiction. Check them out! Tobacco, nicotine, and Smoking Medical News Today: According to a recent study in China there is a new effective strategy for treating tobacco addiction. Researchers have developed a novel tea filter that seems to help with cigarette addiction. (Note: this link doesn’t give direct access…
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About Addiction: Alcohol, breast cancer & war veterans
Check out our weekly links about addiction! Health Day: A new study shows that breast cancer survivors who smoke are at increased risk for a second cancer. The time frame to develop second cancer is fifteen years. Cesar Fax: Drug positives increase consistently with age amongst DC juvenile arrestees. 53% of the juvenile arrestees tested…
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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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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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Nicotine addiction and genetics – It’s the little things that matter in smoking addiction
We’ve known for a while that genes play a role in addiction in general and that nicotine is addictive at least in part because it activates receptors for a chemical called Acetylcholine (ACh) that are found all over the brain and body. Nevertheless, finding the specific mechanism for the genetic predisposition has been difficult. Some…
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About addiction: Cancer, religion, inhalants, and opiates.
Here is this week’s crop. Once again, I tried to find posts about addiction from all different angles, check out the post by clicking the title and you’ll get some extra related posts from our site! PhysOrg – Acetaldehyde in alcohol – Cancer in a bottle GentlePath – Recovery for atheists From the White House…