Mind altering drugs and studying?

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/mindenhancing-drugs-are-they-a-nobrainer-1708988.html

The link above directs you to an article published by the Independent that addresses the issue of mind altering drugs and their place in academia. Whilst the article discusses various drugs that are now becoming popular amongst students, all of which are used widely in other areas (for example Ritalin, used to treat children with ADHD) the main gist revolves around a highly debated suggestion from John Harris, director of the Institute for Science, Ethics and Innovation at the University of Manchester, and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Medical Ethics. The distinguished Professor of Bioethics says it is time to embrace the possibilities of 'brain boosters' and chemical cognitive enhancement.

Do you think it is fair that healthy students take mind enhancing drugs to concentrate harder in exams? If yes, then who should the drugs be made available to? And if no, then what's the difference between taking performance enhancing drugs in the context of studying and getting extra help in the form of tuition?

Regardless of the answer to the above questions, is it too late anyway as all these drugs are easily accessible on the Internet and it would seem that at least some of the world wide population of students have been embracing the concept of mind enhancing drugs for years...

 

 

Starting to drink at 10 years old and all we do is print pictures in the paper?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/jun/17/young-people-alcohol

Above is a link to an article published in The Guardian that explores young people's perspectives of teenage drinking – if it's going to be talked about so much in the media then we might as well know what the actual people the media is discussing think about their national portrait 'as a bunch of booze-addled louts'?

The key points raised by the group of 17 young people that were invited to share their opinions by The Guardian and Drinkaware at a youth roundtable, included:

• Young participants thought the media portrayal of young people and alcohol was exaggerated. Nevertheless, many worried about friends, and how much some of them were drinking.

• They copied their parents, who also sometimes used alcohol to cope with the stresses of life.

• One participant thought that the taboo nature of alcohol made it particularly attractive. Others cited doing what other people did, a desire to have fun, relax and combat boredom.

• Many participants had their first drink at 13 or 14; a few were younger. One participant blamed the variety of alcoholic drinks on offer.

• A survey conducted by Drinkaware showed that people in general were starting to drink alcohol at a younger age.

• When shown tabloid press cuttings about young people and alcohol, several participants - but not all - felt the coverage was skewed against them.

• Several participants felt the media encouraged young people to drink.

• All thought schools needed to offer improved education concerning alcohol. It was felt they should offer advice about drinking sensibly, rather than prohibition. · Some thought that peer education worked well; others that young people needed to learn from their own mistakes.

However, perhaps the most salient thing about the opinions of these young people, is the fact that they have all had vastly different experiences of alcohol consumption and hold varied opinions on what would work to improve the stigma of teenage drinking, and moreover and how new schemes to reduce alcohol related problems in our youth population could be implemented. This emphasises the need for a more modern strategy to deal with teenage drinking – as the policeman quoted by Jack, one of the young people involved in the debate stated, 'We know you are going to drink and take drugs but do it somewhere quiet, do it nicely. If you do get drunk, call us. We will help'.

We can't ignore the fact that our young people are started to drink earlier and earlier and that more than just a pint is consumed, but we can start to do is face facts and talk honestly to work out what help young people need – whatever it is, it certainly isn't more stereotypes.

 

Close our only unique specialist young persons unit? = madness

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/jun/15/health-drugs

The above links refers to an article published in The Guardian that discusses the potential closure of Middlegate – Britain's only specialist residential drug and alcohol unit for young people. Whilst the article makes points about the development of new and alternative services to units like Middlegate, it remains a travesty to our society that our only facility geared up solely to deal with severe substance abuse problems in our young population is facing closure – and why? It seems to come down to finances. Treatment is not inexpensive, but it is life saving and whilst intense residential treatment is not needed by everyone, we are kidding ourselves if we think that losing a specialist facility like Middlegate is anything but a crying shame. We need to wake up and stop ignoring the fact that children as young as 11 and 12 are using hard drugs – having a place for young people to get the help they really need, and not just a few counselling sessions a month, is vital for the recovery of many young people; what we need is more places like Middlegate, not to rid our country of the only unit of it's kind.

'Nice people take drugs' campaign - to the point or missing it?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jun/09/nice-people-drugs-ads-pulled

The link above refers to an article published in The Guardian today about the human rights charity Release latest drug campaign and the governments instructions to remove their bus posters that use the strapline 'Nice People Take Drugs'. The chief executive of Release has accused the advertising regulators of censorship and politicians of being frightened to have an open debate about drug use in the UK.

Saville, the chief executive of Release, said getting their message across was vital to constructive debate. "I believe that the time has come where potential leaders of our country have much to gain from real honesty about drug use in the UK, including their own drug use," he added. "The intellectual debate on drug control has been won and we must stop allowing politicians to adopt fundamentalist and unscientific policies solely out of fear of upsetting a handful of moral crusaders."

What do you think about the campaign and the poster that are at the centre of an on going debate about how drug use should be addressed? Moreover, if you think the strapline should be changed, what should it be changed to?

 

Shift in drug habits...

This week sees Radio 1 launch Drug Week – offering an accessible and informative debate about drug use in the UK. The link below refers to a Newsbeat page discussing the shift in young people's drug habits. Whilst the article advises that there has been a drop in the use of hard drugs (i.e. heroin and crack) and that more young people than ever are getting addiction treatment, it also emphasises that party drugs (i.e. cocaine, ecstasy and cannabis) are getting stronger and taking them is increasing risky, especially when mixing multiple drugs together. This implies that whilst one problem is decreasing a bigger one is increasing.

 “Alcohol is cheaper and more available, cannabis is far stronger, cocaine is half the price it used to be and you can get half a dozen ecstasy tablets for £10," according to Howard Parker, Professor Emeritus at Manchester University, who coined the term 'ACCE' last year.

Not to mention the fact that alcohol abuse is at record levels across the population and that the statistics publish recently quite possibly do not include thousands of young people who abuse legal prescription drugs, albeit attained by illegal means.

The facts are that drug use in this county, whether legal or illegal, is a big problem and we need a new approach to support our young people – 'just saying no' is no longer a valid preventative measure. It seems that taking drugs is part of the teenage culture and we need more understanding if we are going to nurture our young people to make more informed decisions about what drugs they use and how they use them.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/the_p_word/newsid_8084000/8084968.stm

Second chance after conviction?

Second chance after a conviction? Read on...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jun/08/jonathan-aitken-offenders-rehabilitate

This is an extremely interesting article written by the Guardian's Jonathan Aitken, it demonstrates his insights in to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act. Should all convictions eventually be spent?

Drugs and Rugby

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/club/5431474/Rugby-must-address-drugs-problems.html

The article above refers to the steadily increasing number of random drug tests conducted in British rugby that are coming back positive – and not just steroids or performance enhancing drugs, but the same drugs you would expect to find in a club or bar anywhere in the UK. Long has it been considered that sports like rugby only include one drug, alcohol, however, this is changing. As the article suggests, why would rugby players be exempt from using recreational drugs?

Babies in withdrawal

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/one-in-500-babies-now-born-drug-dependent-1693502.html

This article in The Independent highlights the increasing problem of babies born suffering withdrawal due to their mothers drug use. This problem is getting bigger and bigger whilst government funded initiatives to tackle the problems are getting smaller. More and more specialist units are closing, leaving the few experienced drug and alcohol midwives to deal with unacceptable work loads. The figures in this article are likely to be underestimating the number of mothers to be experiencing drug and alcohol related pregnancy problems and something has to change.

If you are experiencing addiction problems and need some support there are a variety of private clinics who can help – get in touch.