the times | Wednesday February 23 2022 17
News
Young people who use drugs but quit
before adulthood are on average not
harming their future life chances,
according to research.
A 16-year study of amphetamine and
cannabis use, published in a peer-
reviewed journal, sheds new light on
the consequences of teenage drug use.
Results based on data from more
than 2,000 children in Australia
showed that people who broke their
drug habit before 30 did not have lower
economic and relationship success or
life quality. The findings demonstrate
the importance of stopping drug use in
early adulthood so that health and
wellbeing are not compromised.
Professor Najman, of the University
of Queensland in Australia, said: “Ado-
lescent behaviour problems predict
drug use at 21 years, and drug use and
life success at 30 years. But teenage
drug use or disorders don’t appear to
predict life success in adulthood among
those who have ceased taking drugs
before the age of 30.
“What seems to best predict low life-
success outcomes is the persistence of
cannabis and amphetamine use. Our
findings, linking problem behaviour
and school problems in adolescence
with drug use and life success, repre-
sent an opportunity for policymakers to
alter the young person’s life trajectory.”
The authors used data on 2,
children born to mothers from theQuit drugs by 30 to
avoid future harm
James Beal Social Affairs Editor Mater-University of Queensland Study
of Pregnancy, which began more than
40 years ago. Their aim was to examine
the extent to which cannabis and
amphetamine use up to the age of 21
predicted life success at age 30.
Children aged 14 were tested for IQ,
mental health, aggression and delin-
quency. Information from mothers was
also analysed, such as the number of
partners and a child’s contact with
police.
Cannabis and amphetamine use was
self-reported at specific age points,
including 21 and 30.
The authors also interviewed partici-
pants at the age of 21 about behaviours
linked to past drug-taking, such as
drug-related disorder.
Life success was measured at the age
of 30 and defined according to three
categories, including socioeconomic
factors – which took into account in-
come, education and home ownership.
The two other categories to measure
success were quality of life and quality
of intimate relationships.
The results, which were published in
Addiction Research & Theory, found
that the early age of use of cannabis
and/or amphetamines did not appear
independently to predict life success
at 30.
With very high rates of drug use by
adolescents, the authors say more re-
search is needed into interventions to
prevent drug use into adulthood, which
is strongly linked to lower life success.TMS
[email protected] | @timesdiaryMPs and their
teenage tricks
A chance meeting at lunchtime
yesterday between Steve Pound, the
former Labour MP, and Feargal
Sharkey led to them sharing
memories of when the lead singer
of the Undertones inspired a
backbenchers’ parlour game at the
end of the last Labour government.
Sharkey was then head of UK
Music and had slipped into the
Commons gallery to watch a debate
on copyright infringement. His
presence was noticed by MPs, who
then took it in turns to slip in lyrics
from Sharkey’s songs. Pound went
first with “teenage kicks”, of course,
and “Wednesday week” and “a good
heart these days is hard to find”
soon followed. Sharkey realised
what was going on and didn’t mind
at all. “I was just looking forward to
receiving the royalties,” he said.A moment of symmetry occurred late
last night when the time on digital
clocks read 22:22.22 on 22/2/22. And by
happy chance it was a Twosday. Andy
Davey, a reader, tells me the greatest
number of identical digits in a time
came under Henry I, with 14 1s: 11:11.
on 11/11/1111, though surely 11 in those
days would be written as XI.a glamour-plated gun
When it came to doing one’s bit for
the boys, Marlene Dietrich was an
eager conscript. Billy Wilder said
the German-born singer, who took
US citizenship, was on the front line
more than Eisenhower. With a Nazi
price on her head, Dietrich, above,
was given a revolver by General
Patton in a case stamped “With
devoted affection and for
protection”. It is being auctioned in
California with an estimate of up to
$50,000. But it may not have been
just Nazis she needed to fight off.
Dietrich often sparked riots among
GIs by tossing her garters into the
audience. “There’s something about
an American soldier,” she once said.
“They’re so grateful for anything.”life expectancy shocker
The end is nigh, Richard Dawkins
says. Well, nigh-ish. In a talk at the
How To Academy, the scientist
backed colonisation of Mars so thathumanity had not got “all its eggs
in one basket”. Full of joy, he then
pointed out that life would end on
Mars in due course as well. He once
lamented that we had five billion
years before the sun engulfed us but
was misheard. “Five million years?”
someone asked. Told it was billion
they replied: “Phew, that’s a relief.”After yesterday’s item on amusing
correspondence sign-offs, Jock
Gardner sent one that ended a
formal reprimand of a junior officer
200 years ago: “I have the honour to
be, Sir, your obedient servant (which
you know damned well I am not).
Wellington.”a brief respite from failure
If at first you don’t succeed, fail, fail
again. Nick de Bois had the dismal
record of “played five, won one” for
the Tories in Enfield North from
2001 to 2017 but was made to feel
like a conquering hero when
elected in 2010. De Bois recalls in
The House magazine that Charles
Walker, a fellow Tory MP, bounded
into his office, enthusing: “Great to
have you... you’re in the Premier
League... enjoy yourself.” De Bois’s
heart swelled. Then there was a
pause and the coda: “Because we all
know you won’t be back here in five
years.” And he wasn’t.patrick kidd