Tainted Ecstasy Alert – Vancouver BC

The coroner in Vancouver BC recently found links between one of four ecstasy deaths in Vancouver,  and five recent ecstasy deaths in Calgary, Alberta, with the ecstasy found to contain the same toxic substance. According to Dr Perry Kendall, provincial health officer for British Columbia – the toxin is meth drug PMMA (Paramethoxy-methamphetamine), that previously has not been associated with using ecstasy...

Impulsivity and Drug Use

There is a positive correlation between drug use and impulsivity. A 2009 study by Spanish psychologists about drug use by young university students, found that at cognitive and motor level, alcohol and cannabis users were more likely than other students to have high levels of impulsivity. The study did not confirm whether impulsivity caused substance abuse or whether drug use was a cause of poor impulse...

Addiction to Stress & Drugs

There are many people today who don’t feel happy or content unless they are stressed out and busy – doing something. It is a fact that not all stress is harmful and that being responsive to and successfully meeting the demands of our daily lives is a source of great satisfaction and contentment. When we successfully meet our “goals”, we feel relaxed and happy. Setting goals and achieving...

Tiger Moms and Infant Drugs

At the beginning of this year, Amy Chua published a book, the Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother – a non-fiction autobiography that rigorously exposed a strict and disciplinarian style of parenting, as practiced by Amy Chua on her daughters. The book drew widespread criticism of Amy Chua’s parenting style – some denouncing it as barbaric and cruel. Yet, beneath the surface of a mother – daughter...

Digital Drugs – A Gateway to Substance Abuse?

An article in BBC News in 2010 raises the question of whether or not digital drugs can lead to substance abuse. the article refers to schoolchildren using binaural tone downloads on their i-pods and experiencing “high” effects. It is of concern that the producers of these media items also appear to promote a range of “legal” psychoactive substances – aimed at the teen...