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Results: Overall, 32.2% (95% CI=29.7–34.9) of patients with a substance-induced psychosis converted to either bipolar or schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. The highest conversion rate was found for cannabis-induced psychosis, with 47.4% (95% CI=42.7–52.3) converting to either schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Young age was associated with a higher risk of converting to schizophrenia. Self-harm after a substance-induced psychosis was significantly linked to a higher risk of converting to both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Half the cases of conversion to schizophrenia occurred within 3.1 years after a substance-induced psychosis, and half the cases of conversion to bipolar disorder occurred within 4.4 years.
Conclusions: Substance-induced psychosis is strongly associated with the development of severe mental illness, and a long follow-up period is needed to identify the majority of cases.
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Prevention Matters https://www.preventteendruguse.org/prevention/
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Nearly 33 percent of young adults in the U.S. are at risk of being addicted to cocaine, take prescription medication for non-medical use, and become alcoholics. One in three people between the ages of 21 and 24 habitually consumes energy drinks, and a new study suggests they are more likely to abuse drugs or alcohol later in life.
For the study, researchers from the University of Maryland followed the health and risk-taking habits of 1,099 college students over a four-year period. At the end of the analysis, the participants that drank highly caffeinated drinks were more likely to be addicted to cocaine, alcohol, or other substances than students who avoided the beverages.
“This study gives evidence of a specific contribution of energy drink consumption to later substance use,” said Amelia Arria, an associate professor and lead author of the study, as cited by NZ Herald. “The results suggest that energy drink users might be at heightened risk for other substance use, particularly stimulants.”
While the study seemed to find an association between energy drinks and future substance abuse, the researchers could not determine exactly why such a link should exist. Some possibilities for a connection include peer pressure, a higher inclination for risk-taking, and even effects on the brain that cause a craving for more potent stimulants.
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‘Life is not sunshine and rainbows and thank you for teaching me that life is unfair — people disappoint you and there’s sometimes nothing you can do about that. A lesson well learnt from the both of you. Thank you for not being there to wave goodbye as I jetted off to Uganda on a trip of a lifetime, thanks for not being there when I got my first set of exam results to say well done, thanks for not being there when I got the position of head girl (a personal dream), thanks for not being there for me as I stood in front hundreds of people to speak at the Caird Hall for my school prizegiving, thank you for not being there for me when I needed you…
You’ve given me the greatest lesson of how to be independent. You have both allowed me to be a more patient and tolerant person than I could have imagined.
Parents, both of you, thank you for teaching me that taking drugs ruin lives, breaks families apart and gives no one a quality of life worth living. I'll be eternally grateful for this lesson you have taught me which has a message which has stuck by me until this day and always will, I have never and will never have a desire to take harmful substances through your example…
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(No thanks to the manipulative minority of malevolent millionaire marijuana mongers)
By Deirdre Boyd
“Between a battle lost and a battle won, the distance is immense and there stand empires” – Napoleon
The emperor Napoleon used two key interchangeable battle plans: manoeuvre and attrition. In the first, Napoleon's main force held the enemy's attention to his front, while other forces fell upon one of his flanks. The second poured frontal firepower into those he wished to overthrow in enormous amounts until they appeared to weaken, then great masses of men would be thrown in to smash their way through. Such a battle was costly affair. But it worked until Wellington beat him at Waterloo, in a far-from-guaranteed victory.