Does smoking pot affect your IQ? Yes, if you start smoking under the age of 18. A study from New Zealand’s University of Otago of 1,000 people IQ tested and followed from 18 to 34 showed that people who smoked and became dependent by 18 had an average drop of 8 points. Unfortunately, quitting didn’t remove the problem researchers reported. (Modesto Bee, Tue. 28, 2012)
Recently, the San Francisco Chronicle had a heartbreaking letter written by Ricci & Vernae Graham’s about the loss of their son Malcolm to an opioid overdose. The Graham’s son is a typical story. He got hooked on prescription opioids after a football injury, over time became addicted, had mood problems, got in trouble with the
Is Internet Porn the best sex education for teens? I hope not. According to research by TopTenReview, the average age at which a child first views porn online is 11. Another survey published by Psychologies magazine in the U.K. found that one-third of children surveyed had seen online porn by age 10. Why are parents
Make a habit, break a habit. Are addictions treatable habits? Yes, but it’s just a little more complicated than that. If you’re wondering if you have a drinking problem, do you remember when you first started drinking, what it was you were really going for? Some of my clients report everyone else was doing it
We must and can do better to prevent and treat alcohoism and addiction. We have had success with another addiction – smoking. The U.S. reduced smoking rates from nearly 60% in the 1950s to about 20% today. We did it with a collective will to stop that killer and with a focus on prevention and treatment
Feel like a hamster on a never-ending-habit treadmill? Losing weight and keeping it off has always been tough. But bad spending habits can be just as challenging and destructive. Now there are Apps like Urge or Make a Habit, Break a Habit to make it easier to stay on track. What kind of bad money
I’m running as fast as I can. I’m so busy – Answering emails, going to work, looking for work, driving to and fro, texting, trying to stay in touch, running to the gym – to run. But what are we running to? And, what will we find when we get there? The pace of life is
Americans are addicted to legal drugs and by drugs I mean pharmaceutical drugs. Pharmaceutical companies are the most profitable industry in the world. Marcia Angell, M.D. first woman editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine reports that in 2002 the $35.9 billion the top drug companies earned were greater than the profits of the other
Joy training for the addictive brain? Yes, it’s possible I’m happy to say. I was at my brother Lee’s 12 Step N.A. meeting when he got his 1 year chip. Yeah Lee!! There were 100 people in the room celebrating each other for their hard work to stay sober from 1 year to 28 years.
How much money is enough? There’s never enough! If I ask people how much money will make them happy many say: “Just MORE.” How much more? They don’t know. The quest for more money without a specific number or goal keeps us acting like hamsters on the wheel – running, running, running toward MORE and