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Drugs + damage
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Hi, How do drugs damage the brain, kidneys and liver? does anyone actually know?
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Each drug carries different risks, of course the biggest killer worldwide is tobacco, followed by alochol - and cannabis has never killed anyone!
Which drug(s) are you interested in?
To be honest most illegal drugs are less harmful, but I suggest you go for a read here:
Erowid - a database full of information on drugs........
hey sexy lucy you look awful like a bloke. anyone ever tell you that before ?
Oh and by the way i'm not just Sexy i'm V sexy!
shit..i walked into that one ! sorry sorry sorry to all the other blokes on here who thinks he looks like a very small lost child.
it's the brain damage mamma...help mme please god.
Firstly, please keep in mind that the views on this board are opinions and not facts. And contrary to what some of the responses might suggest here, all drugs do have potential damaging consequences.
You might also want to check out our drug fact sheets for info on the effects and risks of most drugs.
Dom
Don't blame yourself its my super intellegence that caught you out!
Except in WHSpliffs case
Duffy
I need to take issue here, regarding your 'facts' on cannabis, they seem somewhat outdated!
Can't agree with the second part, research shows (and not just mine) that it can help you focus on the job in hand, by blocking out the rest of the crap going on in your head - hence some of the best artistic works have been created 'under the influence'!
Wrong - extensive government-funded research carried out in the UK & USA has shown cannabis use does NOT increase the risk of an accident whilst driving. Australian research went further and claimed cannabis was the ONLY drug that DECREASED the risk of an accident!
Holland has one of the best road safety records in Europe, despite its liberal attitude towards the herb and DOES NOT target cannabis users!
I think an update is required - taking into consideration the latest government funded research – more than happy to help!
Here's the piece I wrote after the UK study was published, but I'll try and find the links again.
Cannabis may make you a safer driver!
A report published last year (2000), after extensive UK government funded research by the ‘Transport Research Laboratory”, suggested that driving under the influence of cannabis may not be so dangerous as claimed before.
After receiving exemption from prosecution by the Home Office, a number of cannabis smokers were given top-grade cannabis to smoke prior to undertaking a number of tests.
The results confirmed research undertaken by various western countries, including the U.S. and Australia, that the mellowing effects of cannabis makes drivers more cautious, and so less likely to drive in a dangerous manner.
Those under the influence were found to be more cautious and as a result cannabis has little impact on the their risk of being involved in a crash.
Although cannabis affected reaction time, the users tended to over compensate for any perceived impairment, driving slower and more carefully.
Similar research by the Australian Drugs Foundation found that cannabis was the only drug tested that decreased the relative risk of having an accident.
Alcohol Impairs Driving More Than Marijuana - Source: New Scientist (UK)
Australia: Cannabis 'Not Risky' - Source: Advertiser, The (Australia)
UK: Dope Drivers Safe - Source: Province, The (CN BC)
More soon:D
No proof cannabis put drivers at risk: 31 October 2001
STUDIES had found it impossible to prove cannabis adversely affected driving, an Adelaide University researcher said yesterday.
Professor Jack Maclean, director of the road accident research unit, said, while there was no doubt alcohol affected driving adversely, that was not the case with marijuana.
"It has been impossible to prove marijuana affects driving adversely," he told the Australian Driver Fatigue Conference in Sydney.
"There is no doubt marijuana affects performance but it may be it affects it in a favourable way by reducing risk-taking."
Professor Maclean said a study of blood samples taken by SA hospitals from people injured in road accidents found marijuana was the second most common drug, after alcohol, in the bloodstream.
Those with marijuana in their blood, however, were at fault in less than half of the accidents.
"Alcohol was by far the most common drug and 80 per cent of those with alcohol on board were judged to be responsible (for accidents)," he said.
"The next most common drug, but much less, was marijuana and about 48 per cent of the people with marijuana were judged to have been responsible for their crash."
He said the lack of proof that marijuana was detrimental to driving was not because of a lack of effort by researchers.
"I can say that there are some quite distinguished researchers who are going through incredible contortions to try and prove that marijuana has to be a problem," he said.
Professor Maclean said some researchers also found the risk of crashing while driving at the speed limit in a metropolitan area actually decreased if a driver had been drinking but was under the 0.05 blood alcohol limit.
"Perhaps for some people one or two glasses of alcohol may steady them down," he said.
As speed and alcohol concentration rose, however, the risk of accidents rose exponentially.
The detrimental impact of alcohol on highway safety has been well documented. Marijuana's opponents claim that it, too, causes significant impairment and that any increase in use will lead to increased highway accidents and fatalities.
THE FACTS In high doses marijuana probably produces driving impairment in most people. However, there is no evidence that marijuana, in current consumption patters, contributes substantially to the rate of vehicular accidents in America.
A number of studies have looked for evidence of drugs in blood or urine of drivers involved in fatal crashes. All have found alcohol present in 50 percent or more. Marijuana has been found much less often.
Furthermore, in the majority of cases where marijuana has been detected, alcohol has been detected as well. (*1) For example, a recent study sponsored by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) involving analysis of nearly 2000 fatal accident cases, found 6.7 percent of drivers positive for marijuana.
In more than two-thirds of those, alcohol was present and may have been the primary contributor to the fatal outcome (*2) To accurately access marijuana's contribution to fatal crashed, the positive rate among deceased drivers would have to be compared to the positive rate from a random sample of drivers not involved in fatal accidents.
Since the rate of the past-month marijuana use for Americans above the legal driving age is about 12 percent, on any given day a substantial proportion of all drivers would test positive, particularly since marijuana's metabolites remain in blood and urine long after its psychoactive effects are finished.
A recent study found that one-third of those stopped for "bad driving" between the hours of 7 p.m and 2 a.m - mostly young males - tested positive for marijuana only. (*3). To be meaningful, these test results would have to be compared to those from a matched control group of drivers. A number of driving simulator studies have shown that marijuana does not produce the kind of psychomotor impairment evident with moderate doses of alcohol (*4).
In fact, in a recent NHTSA study, the only statistically significant outcome associated with marijuana was speed reduction. (*5) A recent study of actual driving ability under the influence of cannabis - employing the same protocol used to test impairment-potential of medicinal drugs - evaluated the impact of placebo and three active THC doses in three driving trials, including one in high-density urban traffic. Dose-related impairment was observed in drivers' ability to maintain steady lateral position.
However, even with the highest dose of THC, impairment was relatively minor - similar to that observed with blood-alcohol concentrations between 0.03 and 0.07 percent and many legal medications. Drivers under the influence of marijuana also tended to drive more slowly and approach other cars more cautiously while recognising some limitations of this study, the authors conclude, "THC is not a profoundly impairing drug."
(*6) Refs: *1 : McBay AJ and Owens SM., "Marijuana and Driving", pp 257-63 in L.S.Harris (ed) Problems of Drug Dependence 1980, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office (1981): Teale, JD et al., "The Incidmnece of Cannabinoids in Fatally Impaired Drivers: An Investigation by Radioimmunoassay and High Pressure Liquid Chromatography," Journal of the Forensic Science Society 17: 177-83 (1978) *2 Terhune, KW et al., The Incidence and Role of Drugs in Fatally Injured Drivers, Washington DC: Department of Transportation (1994) *3 Brookoff, D et al., "Testing Reckless Drivers for Cocaine and Marijuana", New England Journal of Medicine 331: 518-22 (1994) *4 Kv'alseth, TO, "Effects of Marijuana on Human Reaction Time and Motor Control", Perceptual and Motor Skills 45: 935-39 (1977): Hansteen, RW, et al, "Effects of Cannabis and Alcohol on Automobile Driving and Psychomotor Tracking," Annals of New York Academy of Science 282: 240-56 (1976): Moskowitz, H et al., " Marijuana: Effects on Simulated Driving Performance," Accident Analysis and Prevention 8: 45-50 (1976); Moskowitz H et al., "Visual Search Behaviour While Viewing Driving Scenes Under the Influence of Alcohol and Marijuana", Human Factors 18: 417-31 (1976) *5 Stein, AC et al., A Simulator Study of the Combined Effects of Alcohol and Marijuana on Driving Behavior-Phase II, Washington DC: Department of Transportation (1983)
The largest study ever done linking road accidents with drugs and alcohol has found drivers with cannabis in their blood were no more at risk than those who were drug-free. In fact, the findings by a pharmacology team from the University of Adelaide and Transport SA showed drivers who had smoked marijuana were marginally less likely to have an accident than those who were drug-free. A study spokesman, Dr Jason White, said the difference was not great enough to be statistically significant but could be explained by anecdotal evidence that marijuana smokers were more cautious and drove more slowly because of altered time perception.
The study of 2,500 accidents, which matched the blood alcohol levels of injured drivers with details from police reports, found drug-free drivers caused the accidents in 53.5 per cent of cases. Injured drivers with a blood-alcohol concentration of more than 0.05 per cent were culpable in nearly 90 per cent of accidents they were involved in. Drivers with cannabis in their blood were less likely to cause an accident, with a culpability rate of 50.6 per cent.
The study has policy implications for those who argue drug detection should be a new focus for road safety. Dr White said the study showed the importance of concentrating efforts on alcohol rather than other drugs. This information was posted by the library of The Alcohol and other Drugs Council of Australia (ADCA). Requests for copies of newsclips can be directed to the library by phone 02 62811002, fax 02 6282 7364 or e-mail library@adca.org.au. To subscribe to this listserv, send the message "subscribe update" (without the inverted commas) in the text field to majordomo@majordomo.netinfo.com.au with the subject field left empty.
Bumped for Dom;)