MediNat Australia

'Ice' users likely to suffer psychosis on drug, study finds Date   January 10, 2013 Malcolm Knox    USERS of methamphetamine, or ''ice'', are five times likelier to suffer psychotic symptoms while taking the drug, according to a groundbreaking new Australian study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Psychiatry (JAMA Psychiatry). The study's lead author, Dr Rebecca McKetin, said that ''there have always been questions about causality from those who say methamphetamine users aren't 'turned mad' by the drug but have a pre-existing psychotic condition. What's unique about this study is that it excludes those users and still finds such a strong link between use and psychotic symptoms in a large cohort over a period of years''. Dr McKetin, formerly of the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre in Sydney and now at the Australian National University, said she was surprised by the str...