Cannabis doubles the risk of traffic accident

Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

• Alters cognitive and psychomotor skills necessary to drive

   

     In the fight against alcohol before taking the wheel, several studies point to anotherworkhorse: the drug and, in particular cannabis. According to the latest study published in 'British Medical Journal (BMJ), "the cannabis use doubles the risk of a traffic accident", as they say the authors of Dalhousie University (Canada).

    A fact to consider after the last report published by the European Monitoring Centrefor Drugs and Drug Addiction, is that states that one in five European adults haveever tried cannabis and, in the case of Spain, 19, 4% of youth aged 15 to 34 years has ever used these drugs in 2011 (only behind the Czech Republic and Italy).

"Cannabis is the most widely used illicit substance worldwide and recent statistics show that far from going down, there is a significant increase in consumption," said Mark Asbridge, one of the authors of the paper published in 'British Medical Journal."But the figures show more. If cannabis is consumed before driving a motor vehicle crash risk doubles and also there is a significantly greater increase of collision if the driver is under 35 years," he adds.

Serious crashes ... and many deaths

     To reach these results, the team reviewed nine previous studies Asbridge, and a totalof 49,500 cases closely-related to the danger of collision after consuming this substance. Analyzing toxicological studies had been made to the injured, they sawthat cannabis was to blame for psychomotor and cognitive tasks of drivers were affected.

"The result was clear: cannabis increased traffic collisions doubling the chances of a crash, many with serious if not fatal results. And the problem is that it is one of the most consumed substances, especially among young people", explains Asbridge.

   This conclusion holds in the line of studies on alcohol and drugs are made in theEuropean Union. In a study in Spain provided by the DGT (presence of alcohol, drugs and medicines in Spanish drivers) shows that 11% of Spanish has ever driven under the influence of drugs, with cannabis and cocaine the 'queens' of this consumption.

   As stated in the study, "in 2010, 12.51% of road deaths had consumed some type of drug and you used the most stands out cannabis."

Related articles

• Pot Use Precedes the Onset of Psychotic Symptoms in Young People, Study Finds (addictionts.com)
• Cannabis linked to higher road deaths (changeagentsforroadsafety.wordpress.com)
• Fatal crash risk doubles with pot (vancouversun.com)
• Smoke and Mirrors: Driving While on Marijuana Doubles One s Chances of a Serious Car Crash (blogs.scientificamerican.com)

-->

Twitter, as addictive as cigarettes

Some people can not fail to see social networks or e-mail.

     Check messages from Twitter or Facebook and respond to an e-mail could cause more addictive than alcohol or snuff. According to a group of U.S. experts, is more difficult to resist seeing updates to these pages to say no to a drink or a cigarette. So say in a paper to be published in the journal Psychological Science.

    Thanks to new technologies (mobile phones, tablets ...), it's easy to connect at any time in social networks and email. Moreover, since actions are not considereddangerous or even carry a high cost (not multiplied by the number of times theresponse or request), no one feels the need to repress his curiosity to see what new messages you have received.

Social Network - Copertina (Photo credit: marcomassarotto)

  Yes, enter the Facebook profile to see if anyone has commented on a state or check the Twitter mentions or 'tweets' followers, become so common daily activities such as sleeping or eating. Thus, some of these users have addiction to social networks,even greater than that could cause the snuff or alcohol, according to a study at the School of Business at the University of Chicago (USA) and which include some British newspapers as 'The Guardian' and 'The Telegraph'.

   The authors of that study conducted 205 surveys of day desires of users (between 18and 85 years) and concluded that sleep and sex are the two strongest desires.However, access to social networks is positioned as the desire to resist harder and easier to satisfy. Alcohol and snuff were at lower levels, although addictive.

     It is so easy to 'keep an eye' to the email or Facebook via mobile which is notsurprising that sometimes people are more attentive to their digital relationship to the conversation at that point is supposed to be having with other people physically . How to control these situations? According to Wilhelm Hofmann, lead author of the study,"the only way is to resist temptation. This strengthens the willpower and every day areless willing to" fall into temptation. '"

Related articles

• Facebook and Twitter are more addictive than cigarettes or alcohol, study finds (bgr.com)
• Are we addicted to social media? (marchpr.com)
• Lady Gaga launches her own Social Networking Site 'LittleMonsters.com' (buzzom.com)
• Emerging Social Networks (onecoolsitebloggingtips.com)
• Licked RIM has a lifeline: a social network in a box (go.theregister.com)

When will my son lose the virginity?

Image via Wikipedia

facebook (Photo credit: sitmonkeysupreme)

     Knowing the time when a son or daughter is willing to lose her virginity is a fact thatmany parents would want to know. Now they have easier thanks to social networks.At least that is what emerges from new research showing that public postings on Facebook sexual references can indicate the time of initiation of sex.

-->

     Megan Moreno of the University of Wisconsin (USA), is the author of the study, which has seen the light in the Journal of Sex Research.

   "Social networking sites are immensely popular among teens and young adults, most have access to the Internet and most people do it everyday ... The sexual content is part of the profiles of adolescents in many of these networks.  About a quarter of young people has references to sex in public access profile. An example:'Marck was last night ...'. Or by posting their pictures in their underwear. Social networks may represent a new place to explore the sexual behavior of adolescents. "