RESEARCH CONCLUDES SMOKING POT ‘DAMAGES MENTAL HEALTH’ Confirming the fears of many parents, British scientists have concluded after examining existing research that using cannabis can have a serious effect on mental health. It can provoke negative mood changes, induce psychosis and have a severe effect on mental illnesses. “Cannabis affects almost every body system. It combines many of the properties of alcohol, tranquillisers, opiates and hallucinogens”, say the researchers. The research indicates 60% of British students have tried the drug. https://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_1146000/1146752.stm
QUEBEC’S BABY BONUS PROGRAM PROVEN EFFECTIVE A program in Quebec to encourage parents to have more children to build up the quickly dwindling indigenous population was abandoned as ineffective. However a new study into the program found that it was in fact very effective in encouraging parents to have more children. The program, scrapped in 1997, offered $500 for a first baby up to $8,000 for a third and drove up overall fertility in the province by 12%. https://www.globeandmail.com/gam/TopNational/20010131/UBABYN.html
Superdrug, the UK company that announced yesterday its plan to sell abortifacient morning after pills over the Internet, has been forced to back down from its plan after the Department of Health and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society objected based on concerns over safety and information delivery. https://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_1138000/1138715.stm