SCIENCE FILE: An exploration of issues and trends affecting science, medicine and the environment. : Aid for Schizophrenics May Increase Their Abuse of Drugs

Federal disability checks may do more harm than good for the severely mentally disabled who are also drug abusers, according to researchers at the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Dr. Andrew Shaver and his colleagues studied 105 schizophrenics, most of them homeless, who were also drug abusers. They report in the New England Journal of Medicine that cocaine use jumped dramatically in the first three days of the month, after disability checks arrived, and that admissions to hospitals for problems related to their schizophrenia peaked in the days immediately afterward.

Cocaine use also increased in the last few days of the month as dealers extended credit in anticipation of the checks’ arrival. Shaver said it is not clear if the drugs exacerbate the patients’ mental problems or if patients did not take their medications during periods of abuse.